The Lady of Rice
by Ms.Knibbe
Summary: "Gaara? That name rings a bell. Kind, but a little bit on the shy side. But all in all a nice guy." "Really! He kills other people for the joy of it and threatened to kill us as well." Shikamaru retorted. "Oh." Ashoka Inari had always thought herself a good judge of character. Apparently, she had been wrong about that. Gaara/Oc Starts Canon-ish, drifts into AU later on.
1. Insouciant

**So, this idea has been floating around i my head for quite some time, but I wanted to flesh it out a little bit more before I'd post anything. But now that I am ready and have the rough structure of this story complete, I've gathered the courage to share it with you guys.**

 **This story begins in Gaara's childhood, bless his innocent soul. But it's only this chapter that'll take place during that time, because I need to get the plot rolling and characters to interact with each other. After this, there will be a major timeskip, where we will move right to the Chunin Exams. So stay tuned, other beloved characters will make appearences in this fic too, as well as some Oc's. It starts somewhat canon-ish, but as new characters will be introduced, we'll eventually drift off into AU territory, though that will still take some time! If you want any additional inforamtion about my character, their background or certain decisions/actions in the story, just PM me, and I'll get more elaborate (if it doesn't spoil the story).  
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 **I'd really love your opinions on this, so I'd be more than happy about any sort of critique. Gaara is an intruiging character in my opinion, but also so hard to write. Like, I'll-change-the-chapter-ten-times-a-day-because-it-just-isn't-right-hard. So any feedback concerning his portrayal is really appreciated; And for the story overall, to be honest. So thank you very much for clicking on this fic and for showing interest, it means a lot to me!  
**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 ** _Insouciant_**

 _Showing a casual lack of concern_

* * *

Gaara knew something was up when his father had remained longer with him on the training compound than necessary. His father had been more stern and harsh than usual, a feat the young boy had thought impossible.

The Lord Kazekge had pierced Gaara with his cold, unwavering glare, arms crossed in front of his chest, standing as proud as always like a tower right in front of him, his shadow falling over the small boy. It had intimidated Gaara, though he had not dared showing it; His father did not like it when Gaara showed such uncontrolled emotions; A weakness he was not allow to possess.

"Gaara, our training will be interrupted for the upcoming week, there is important business I will have to attend to" he had spoken. "You will be supervised by your uncle for the time being. Under no circumstances are you allowed to leave the room."

Gaara had been puzzled. He had done nothing wrong during the last weeks, and the connection between some business and him had made no sense to him. Why should he hide if he wasn't even involved with any of his father's duties as Kazekage? Why now, when it had never bothered his father before? It had caused a strange ache in his chest, which had only added to his growing confusion back then.

"But why? I don't understa-"

"It is my final decision." he had interrupted him, not quite angry, but agitated.

Gaara had wanted to argue then, or to at least comprehend why he would be confined alone in his room for such a long time, but the look his father had given him gave no such option.

"Do you object my orders, Gaara?" he had inquired, sounding almost threatening to the small boy.

"No, father, I won't." he had replied.

That had been the end of the conversation, and his father had left without another word. He was a good son after all. An obedient one. Yet, the ache in his chest grew stronger, almost unbearably so.

And now Gaara sat in his room, all by himself, his uncle Yashamaru not in sight. It was unbearably boring here, with little to do and only the ominous whistles of wind hushing outside his window, filling the otherwise silent room with soft noise. He preferred silence though when he was alone, because the other option was much more terrifying and intimidating; The racoon dog scared him, always trying to convince him to do bad things. Yashamaru had told him to not listen to it whenever it should speak, but that was a hard feat to achieve when there was nothing else to focus on.

But as it tended to raise it's voice when Gaara was alone and with nothing to do, he searched the room with his huge green eyes for a distraction. Anything would do.

His gaze found the round window above his bed. It gave him a view of the courtyard in front of the Kazekage building. The courtyard was always filled with life, people going in and out of the building, speeches being given there, groups finding together or simply people spending their free time on the harmonic compound. He liked watching the people there going on with their usual business, although he sometimes deeply wished he could join them somehow. But they always left when he approached, fear in their eyes and mean words springing from their lips. Sometimes, they'd even throw rocks at him. He didn't know what he had done to them or what exactly caused them to fear him so, but that did not stop him from trying nonetheless.

Surprisingly, the courtyard was almost completely devoid of life today. It looked bigger than usual, - probably because there were so few people there – and it looked...clean. Tidied up. And if he looked closer, he could see subtle decorations adorning the the whole place. Only a few Suna-nins stood in unified attire as some sort of guard. It looked as if they were expecting something, or rather someone.

He pressed himself closer to the window, trying all sorts of angles to take as much in of the scenery as possible, looking for more clues that could tell the hidden story behind all this. But there wasn't much else to see, no hints or clues that could tell him the whole tale.

Without the thriving on the courtyard, staring out of the window quickly lost it's appeal, all the excitement gone with the people.

But just as was about to cast his gaze away to find another diversion, something moved. The shinobis in the yard suddenly straightened their already tense position, and small noises of something moving over the dry sand floor of Sunagakure rang through to his ears.

And indeed, a whole group entered the compound, looking strange and foreign to Gaara's eyes. A dozen people, all in colorful, silky robes that seemed inconvenient to wear in a place such as Sunagakure. The robes these strangers wore offered no protection from the sun and were too tight, probably making the wearer feel even hotter than the usual desert sun already did. Some of them were wearing armor and weapons, but they wore no headband that would have given away their allegiance. While these armed strangers had grim and stern expressions on their faces, the other persons with a straight posture and coordinated motions looked more impassive than anything.

What drew in his attention though was the heavily embellished palanquin that entered the scene. When it was softly set to the ground, some of the strangers rushed to the palanquin's doors, opening them in fluid and practiced motions, as if they had done it a million times before. Out stepped a man with dark brownish skin and dark blue hair, dressed in a formal kimono with emblems on either side of his chest and his arms. His facial expression was placid too, just like all these other strangers, but the happy glint in his golden eyes gave his true nature away.

But the person Gaara had almost overlooked was stepping out right behind the kind-looking man. A girl, with slightly lighter skin than the man before her, but with the same amber eyes and blue hair. She looked a little bit stiff in the kimono she was wearing, but none of it showed on her face, as she, like everyone else tried her best to sport a completely aloof expression.

These two must have been related, the resemblance undeniable. And from the way they carried themselves, it reminded him of the tales of lords and ladies, of daimyo's and royalty that Yashamaru sometimes told stories about when Gaara would get too bored during some nights. They must have been of noble descent, he was sure of it. Royalty from a faraway exotic country.

A thousand questions sprang to his mind as he watched the foreigners approach the building, a spark of curiosity searing through him. It was captivating, watching these exotic people in their organized march; They seemed...brighter. Even though their faces gave no emotion away, there wasn't the typical broodiness that accompanied most shinobis. Gaara wished he could run downstairs and outside to meet the strangers in person. A thousand questions shot through his mind that he wanted to ask them. Who were these people? What were they like? Did they fear him too?

But his quickly growing anticipation was shattered when his father's words came into mind again. He was not allowed to leave his room. He would not get an opportunity to ever meet them. All these different people down there, and he was left alone up here.

* * *

It was her second day in Sunagakure, having only arrived yesterday and still her sense of wonder had yet to lay low. It was her second time venturing beyond the familiar borders of her father's estate and their home village, and the first time she had ever left the Land of Fire at all.

Her mother had objected to the idea, saying that Inari was too young to travel such lengths, the path too dangerous. But her father had not shared her mother's worries.

It often was like that; Mother being all cautious and thinking of all the risks, her father acting as if the possibility of any harm befalling them being a ridiculous notion. Not that he was naive or an airhead, he _did_ know of the dangers of this world, and he did know of the power he held and the ill intentions it brought with it. He just wasn't as aware of it as Inari's mother was.

And though her mother was probably right, Inari could not help herself but be happy that it was her father who had made the final decision.

Otherwise she maybe would have never seen the dangerous and harsh beauty of the desert lands of the Land of Wind, or all the countless villages and towns they had passed through. None of them could compete against Sunagakure though, or at least the small part of it that she had seen on her way to this building. She wanted to see this country, it's people who were so exotic and foreign to her young self.

It only made her current situation that much more unbearable. She wasn't allowed to leave the room she was currently residing in. While the Kazekage himself had reassured her father that they were perfectly safe in the Kazekage tower and could move freely within it, her father had ordered her to stay in the guest room provided for her. She was to stay there while he was dealing with some business with the Kazekage and his council.

At first she would have thought that she would gladly obey – the Kazekage was a scary man, with even scarier amounts of chakra and she did not know the people and shinobi running around this house. So, her room was the only safe option. But that option turned out to be immeasurably boring, with little else to do.

Inari wanted to leave the room, no matter what her father had told her to do. This was terrible, and there was no one to play games with; Not even the Kazekage's children, whom she had been introduced to last evening, as they were already old enough to go to the Shinobi Academy.

The biggest obstacle in her intentions to leave her room though was the guard stationed at her door. But she had already devised a masterplan to outmaneuver Kanoe-san and flee these already familiar four walls. The only thing left to do was gathering enough courage to see her plan through.

She walked to the door leading to the corridor outside, grabbing the door knob tightly.

"Kanoe-san. Could you please come in for a moment?" Inari asked, hoping that no ill intention could be heard through her voice.

"At once, Inari-sama!" she heard his voice, dampened by the barrier still between them.

She listened closely to her guard's movements, and turned the door knob, opening the door before Kanoe could grab it. He was was about to walk through the small space she had created for him, positioning himself directly between the door and the door frame.

That was when she acted, as quick as a fox. She opened the door wide – visibly surprising Kanoe – only to slam it right back closed, hitting him full force and shortly trapping him between door and frame. But she knew that that wouldn't knock him out, she wasn't even remotely strong enough to do anything of that sort. So she swung open the door again, rushing through the open space, past a stunned Kanoe and grabbing the door knob again. Kanoe though, slightly huffing in pain, was quickly regaining his composure. Inari's window for attack was closing fast. She needed to act now.

With his back still facing towards the corridor – and therefore, also her – she could kick him into her room with some effort. Not much though, only enough for her to fully close the door again. When it clicked into the lock, she wasted no time listening to the angry rant already escaping Kanoe's mouth, instead bolting off to her right.

She needed to be out of sight before he could leave the room again, that would give her the highest chance to actually escape her guard entirely. She tried to run as silently as possible without losing too much momentum and did not dare look back. She could already hear the door being ripped open and foot steps behind her. But she did not give up yet. She turned two corners, ran up three stairs and bolted down a corridor. She did not meet many people along her way, and none of them tried to stop her, looking a little bit dumbfounded after her running figure. But that meant she had people who could tell Kanoe where she had run off to.

That wasn't good. Needing to hide for a while, she turned another three corners and was met by another corridor with multiple doors to her left and right. She picked the last to her right, opened it wide and burst into the room hiding behind it, before closing it again, leaning against it for support. That had been quite tiresome, especially in that stupid kimono that just wasn't made for the hot and dry weather of Sunagakure. She could feel the sweat running down her forehead and arm pits, and worried for a moment that she would smell badly now, or worse, get sweat stains on her clothes. That was disgusting, unbecoming for a lady liker herself. She hadn't yet bothered to take a look around the room she had just invaded, her mind was occupied with other things right then.

"Who are you?" she suddenly heard a small voice pipe up before her.

She opened her eyes wide, trying to identify the speaker who sounded unsure, almost afraid. And true enough, Inari wasn't the only one inhabiting the room right at that moment. In front of her was a young boy, apparently around her age of five or six years, with red hair, green eyes and clothing that seemed so typical at a place like this, yet so exotic to her own eyes. He seemed to be distressed about her entering the room, and now that she was a little bit more aware of her surroundings, she also knew why: This looked like a bedroom. She had waltzed right into this kid's bedroom without even knocking first. That must have scared him witless, she surely would have been had the roles been reversed.

"What are you doing here?" the boy spoke again.

He still seemed somewhat panicked – or simply shy – though Inari did not think it was about herself, but more about the situation as a whole. Well, who wouldn't be somewhat scared when strangers just started crashing into your room without any warnings. Father had always warned her about evil people coming into her room without permission, trying to hurt her real badly. But she wasn't a kunoichi yet, and certainly not an evil one. But how was he supposed to know, she hadn't told him yet.

She had at least some explaining to do, and she certainly did not want to leave this hiding place so soon again. She could be seen and found out immediately!

"I'm not a kunoichi here to kill you!I ran away from my guard and needed to hide somewhere. Sorry for not knocking first, that was impolite of me!" she explained herself, bowing her head quickly in an apologetic gesture.

The boy did not seem too happy about her presence still. As if she was specifically here to harm him. Even after she'd told him she wouldn't. Did he not believe her?

"You still haven't told me who you are." he replied, keeping his distance.

Oh. Of course, you couldn't trust strangers! How stupid of her. How _rude_ of her! Her tutors would bash in their heads if they ever knew how quickly Inari had lost every rule of etiquette she had been taught by now. How would the boy not try to throw her out again if she was this exceptionally rude?! And a rude stranger on top of that.

"Of course! I am sorry again for my rudeness. My name is Ashoka Inari, daughter of Ashoka Suzaku. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. I am also in need of a hiding place!" she quickly said, bowing once more to him, as she had been taught. Now he had to believe her, and let her stay here. He needed to protect her from the searching eyes of her guards. He had to.

For a short time, she didn't hear anything, the boy just avoiding eye contact and looking anywhere but her. It calmed Inari a little bit, as she wasn't the only one anymore in this room who was being rude. She took a step towards him, curious now about the stranger in front of her. It wasn't fair, he was still unknown to her, even after she had already made herself known to him. She eyed him closer, with a little bit more suspicion. He had fair skin, exceptionally fair, to be honest. Something that she had almost deemed impossible when living in the desert, until she had met the Kazekage's family. Maybe they didn't go out so much. Or maybe he was so fair that his skin actually reflected the sun light instead of giving him a tan.

"Won't you tell me your name as well?" she asked skeptically, not wanting to be left in the dark anymore about his identity.

He seemed a little bit surprised, and it took him a moment to answer, but nevertheless, he managed to squeak out the words:

"My name is Gaara."

After a short pause he hastily added:

"Also pleased to meet you. But you shouldn't be here. No one's allowed to come in here except the Kazekage himself and Yashamaru!"

Her eyes widened. He couldn't do that! Kanoe was still out there searching for her and no doubt fuming about the stunt she had pulled. It wasn't safe out there! He couldn't just throw her out again. She quickly closed the distance between them, which only added to the state of discomfort Gaara appeared to be in, for he hastily stepped back two steps. She tried to grab him by the shoulders.

"What? No! You need to let me stay in h-"

Suddenly sand whirled up and around the boy, effectively hindering Inari to even get too close to Gaara, nevermind touching him. A surprised cry left her throat as the rough grains pushed her hands back, knocking Inari on her ass, as she had not been expecting such a push-back.

She looked dumbfounded at the boy, and he just stared as dumbfounded back at her, processing this entire situation.

"I am so sorry-"

A searing pain shot through her palms, pulsating rhythmically in her hands. In horror she watched as her hands slowly turned red, redder than the hair growing on the boy's head. Fear crept up inside her. The blood was threatening to trickle down her fingers just like the tears in her eyes were about to run down her cheeks. How had he done that? Why did he hurt her like that? Had she just ran into an assassin's bedroom, secretly taking his work from him? Wide-eyed, she looked at the perpetrator. And she saw a terrified face, with eyes wide open and a mouth lightly agape. What was missing was the malice. He looked like he was bout to cry too. He wasn't, but he might as well.

She wouldn't cry, not in front of him. He had already proven to be stronger than her, she would not add to that by shedding tears. Whatever type of childish composure she had left, she would keep it together. She was a lady, a not very well-behaved one, but neither one who would bring any more shame to the family. And her mother had told her that she had the potential to become a capable kunoichi. They never showed pain or fe-

"Oh god, there's blood on my kimono! We'll get into so much trouble for this! It's going everywhere!" she cried out in alarm.

Frantically, she searched for something to make the bleeding go away, so it wouldn't smear any further on her. She tried clasping her hands together, but that just made it worse, not to mention the agonizing pain it brought her.

Before Inari had even realized what had happened, a brown, rough and over-sized cloth was thrown over her hands. Gaara had sprung into action. He tried pressing the cloth further into her hands, watching as the sandy-brown texture slowly blossomed into red. But Inari shied away, startled by the additional pain it brought her. Once again, he looked almost as shocked as she was. He had no right to be in shock, Inari thought. She was the one in pain, not him. Yet in all the absurdity, seeing the boy in alarm was what calmed her down again. The pain was still there, but the initial flaring in her palms had subsided a little bit as long as she held tightly onto the cloth.

"Don't stare like that. It's your fault after all." she hissed at him.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to do that." he piped out, not even defending himself against her mean accusation.

"You are a shinobi, of course you did. That's what you guys do, fight and stuff."

He looked guiltily at the ground. Only now did she notice where the over-sized, brown cloth had come from. Gaara wasn't wearing his odd poncho anymore. Somehow, he looked a lot smaller without it. Inari's eyes slightly softened. It was her who had interrupted a shinobi's play-time in his own room. And he hadn't killed her for it, bloody hands were a thousand times better that. It still wasn't nice what he had done to her, but she guessed it was similar to what her sister had done every time Inari had burst into her room without permission. But father always had made them apologize to each other afterwards. If she could begrudgingly say sorry to a sister who wasn't even sorry to throw a wooden doll after her, then this would be no problem.

"I'm sorry too. It wasn't right of me to crash into your room like that." she murmured, a sudden wave of embarrassment accompanying her words. That rarely happened with her sister.

She watched Gaara's face. He looked puzzled. Not the reaction she'd expected. Staring sheepishly at the ground, he avoided eye contact,. What sort of shinobi was he even? And she had been hurt by someone like him, a soft shinobi. Did he think he had to be so soft and gentle around her, because he thought she couldn't handle it? No way!

"But you just wait until I learn nin-jutsu too. Then your sand won't have shit one me." she quickly added, trying to sound though. It had also been the perfect opportunity to showcase the new sentence her brothers had taught her recently.

He looked surprised at her again. Cautiously, he asked:

"You are a shinobi too?"

Inari looked scandalized at him "Do I look like a boy?! I am a lady!"

She paused for a moment, caught in her own thoughts.

"But, yeah, I'm gonna be a kunoichi. Can you imagine how confusing it would be if I'd return home as a boy though?" she contemplated, almost giggling by the end of it.

Gaara couldn't laugh with her, too confused to follow her trail of thought it seemed. The look on his face told her everything, he thought her to be weird. But so was he, so they were even, she guessed.

"Who taught you your technique anyway? Was it your parents?" she instead asked, not dwelling on her short afterthought.

Gaara obviously had no clue what he had to do in such a situation, as if he had never been with other people before. For Inari, the long pause and his facial expression of slight distress was speaking for itself.

"No- I mean yes. Uh-" he stuttered, his head turning redder than his hair.

"It can't be both, obviously!" Inari deadpanned.

If he didn't want to tell her, that was fine too! Actually, no, it wasn't. Inari wanted to know. Maybe she could learn that jutsu too. Her mother had always praised her talent and interest in the arts of the shinobi.

"I could always do it. But my father taught me how to control it." he finally answered, reluctantly.

So that meant Inari couldn't learn it. That was so unfair! A spike of jealousy ran through her body. Why could he do ninjutsu from the very beginning and all she could do from the beginning was being absentminded? What kind of god would let such an injustice happen?

"I'm sorry." he said, not sure what he was even apologizing about.

Gaara, noticing the sudden sulky mood Inari had gone into, appeared to start to loosing all faith in this situation. If he continued to be the way he was, he would scare Inari away entirely. She was the first non-family member to openly approach him. And she was one of the strangers he had wanted to know so much about! But he didn't know what to do. Her mood was changing so quickly, he had trouble keeping up with it. She was staying longer than the other kids, but her presence was also overwhelming, not giving him enough time to adjust. But still, the feeling sprouting in his chest, as confusing as it was, was pleasant, to say the least. He liked this, he just had to figure out why. Later maybe.

"What? No! Don't apologize! Don't apologize for my lack of talent." she shot back immediately, almost outraged by his apology.

Gaara had no clue about anything right now. What was even happening? That had not been what he meant. This was a misunderstanding. He did not think her untalented or weak. He had just not wanted to hurt her any further. But he had done so anyway, apparently. Yet again. What was he supposed to do? How did he not hurt her?

He wanted to get out of this situation. Not away from her, no, he was enjoying her presence. He just wanted to understand, so that this meeting could go better. So that he could be more comfortable. Because he wanted to get more comfortable around her. She was nice; Putting him in a state of distress, but still nice. Even when half of the time she was somewhat nasty to him, she still had a friendly energy to her. After all, she was still here, with him. That amounted to a lot already.

"Can you do anything else with your sand? I don't know, build a sand man, grab something, make it fly? Oh, can you do quicksand? Can you like, make a swimming pool, but instead of water, you have sand?" she got closer again, getting riled up as her imagination was running wild with her.

A surge of pride shot through Gaara, but was accompanied by a huge wave of shyness. This was the first time someone had ever been amazed by what he did with his sand. And she wanted to know more about it. But would she run away like the other children when she saw what he could actually do with it? Gaara did not know. He glanced at her hands. They were still tightly wrapped in his poncho, the cloth now almost entirely crimson. Even though it forced her to hold her hands together the entire time, she apparently had already forgotten about the accident. She had stayed, even after he'd hurt her.

"I- I could show you, if yo-"

"Yes!" she interrupted, looking as excited as ever.

Now she didn't mind being rude. Gaara would be showing her some more ninjutsu, and probably be the coolest kid she had ever known after that.

Inari watched in silent, but obvious excitement as Gaara rose his small arm and a cloud of sand was following his movement upwards. Her golden eyes followed the mass of sand as it flew- yes, it flew, how awesome was that for her five year old mind?! - to the nearby shelf and grabbed a teddy bear from the top of it. It came back in a fluid motion, engulfed in the sand cloud, before being dropped right in front of her.

"This. Is. So. Awesome! You are awesome! Everything is awesome!" she almost couldn't contain herself in her joy. She threw her wrapped hands in the air out of excitement, almost losing balance by doing so. She had forgotten that her movement was limited, with her hands tied together like that. It didn't matter though. She was having a great time.

The moment was only made better by the huge, if still somewhat shy and reluctant smile that had spread on Gaara's face. Inari liked him better when he smiled, especially if it was as genuine as it was now. It was awkward if the one she was playing with wasn't having any fun.

They spent some time like that, with Inari asking him to do something with his sand, and him trying to fulfill her request. It was funny and amazing at the same time for Inari, and Gaara seemed to enjoy himself too, as he sometimes would laugh and smile with her. But she still caught him looking worriedly at his ruined piece of clothing from time to time. She rolled her eyes at that, it was ruining the fun they were having. She wasn't a baby, she could take care of herself. Most of the time.

"What is it?" she asked pointedly.

"What will you do about your injuries?"

"Dunno. Tis just a scratch anyway. No need to fuss about it."

"But I hurt you." he insisted "You need to tell someone, so they can give you medicine for the wounds."

Inari narrowed her eyes at him. What was he on about did not suit her at all. She came close to his face, dangerously close, glaring holes into his face. Gaara almost seemed scared, and she could hear his sand rustling anxiously around him. She wouldn't do the same mistake twice; She liked her face without having a wall of sand in it very much, thank you.

"If you think we are going to get into trouble for this, then you are dead wrong." she stated in her most earnest voice a five-year old could manage.

"We?" Gaara replied, slightly confused again.

Why would she get into trouble over him hurting her? Why would she even care. All he wanted to say was that he wanted her body to heal as quick as possible. No one said anything about trouble!

"Well, no. Actually just me, as long as I don't tell Kanoe or my father that you were involved." she said, her mood changing yet again into a pensive one.

"That's not what I meant." he tried to clear up.

"Well, but it will be trouble for the both of us if I run off to get help with this" she raised her arms a little bit.

"And since it's just a scratch, I won't need any help anyway. So your question is stupid." she finished, seemingly proud of her argumentation.

"Why would you do that for me?" Gaara asked, even more confused now.

No one except Yashamaru and the sand itself had ever even considered protecting him. Why she? She didn't really know him.

"Because that would be like ratting on you. And my brothers told me that ratting on someone is a no-go. I shouldn't do that, so I won't. Don't tell me you didn't know that?!" Inari exclaimed, confident in her words.

Gaara just shook his head. No, he had not known about that, but it made sense in his head.

"Well, now you do. You are so weird! But don't worry, you are still nice, so I still like you, Gaara." she voiced, probably in a horrid attempt to compliment him.

Gaara was at a loss for words. Not only did she like him, but she liked him although he was weird. He did not know how to react to that.

"I-I like you too, Inari." he only managed to re-use her words.

"Ew, don't say it like that. Now it sounds like we are a couple or something!" she squeaked out, somehow disgusted at that thought.

"A couple?" Gaara asked dumbfounded.

How had she gone from 'I like you' to 'couple' as in married or something. That's not how people married. He didn't want to marry her anyway! Had his words sounded like he wanted to marry her? He didn't have a clue, he didn't know how to marry someone? Had he accidentally proposed marriage to her instead of friendship?

"Yeah, but don't worry, we're not one. You need to kiss for that! At least, that's what my parents do, and they are married. Though not really in public. Something about not losing face or similar." she revealed to him.

He listened intently with big eyes. He was learning so much from her today. But one question remained in his head. He first didn't have the confidence to ask her, but now that she had said that they liked each other and they were not married, he had to.

"But, you are my friend, right?"

He couldn't hold eye-contact with her after that. The possibility of her saying no would be too painful to watch.

Inari was a little bit taken aback by his question. They had known each other only for a short while and mother had told her that friendship could only develop over time. And friends didn't blow off hands like that. But it had been an accident, she assumed. And she had made lots of new friends in the other villages as well, and she had not played that much longer with them either at that time. And none of them could make such cool tricks he could do. She did like Gaara enough, even a little bit better than some of her other newly acquired friends. Not as much as her friends at home, but still. Well, by that logic...

Suddenly, the door was opened again, and a new presence filled the room.

"What are you doing here?!" a new voice asked, somewhat surprised as well as shocked.

Inari turned around, alarmed, only to be faced with a grown man with violet eyes and blond, chin-length hair.

"Uh, playing?" Inari replied sheepishly, at a loss for anything else to say.

She had been caught in the act, with Gaara. Oh, but that would mean that she had totally dragged him into her shenanigans. She didn't want him to face scolding too, or worse, punishment. Well, actually it would be nice to not be the only one getting scolded. But that would be like ratting him out, and she did not want to do that! He'd probably also dump a bucket of cold water over her like her brothers had done when she had been a rat to them. Back when she did not know what ratting someone out had been.

Who was this man even? Was he a guard? Was he a shinobi? Or was he just some random dude crashing into rooms like she had done to question those inside these rooms without any higher purpose?

Actually, the last option wasn't so bad. The only bad thing about her last possible theory was that it also was the least likely to be true. Which meant that she was in deep trouble now.

"Yashamaru!" Gaara suddenly cried out, surprised.

So they knew each other and Gaara wasn't sobbing or shaking on the floor. Inari didn't know if Gaara actually did such things, but in her head every shy, but kind child her age did that. Some boys and girls in her home village at least did that sometimes.

So maybe Yashamaru was a nice man and they wouldn't get into trouble at all?

"What have you done to her, Gaara?" he exclaimed, rushing to Inari all of a sudden.

"He did nothi-" she tried to defend the boy who hadn't said a lot by now, seemingly incapable of forming a plausible and appropriate sentence.

This Yashamaru only grabbed her arms, revealing to him the hands wrapped in red.

"You need to get that treated, Ashoka-sama. Please let me take you to the infirmary." he pretended to ask, but was already pulling her along with him outside the door.

"What? No, I'm fine. This goes away from itself! A kunoichi doesn't know pain!" she tried to weasel her way out of the situation.

She would get into so much trouble when her father found out. And Gaara too, because she had ratted him out with her very presence. Oh my god, she was awful, her brothers would surely agree. She could already feel the shiver of that ice cold water being dumped on her again! She turned her head over her shoulder to take one last look at him. His hand was raised, as if to pull her back to him and he looked positively afraid and concerned. Either about her or about what was to come now.

"Wait, Yashamaru. It doesn't-" he tried to explain, but Inari could already hear from his tone that this wasn't going to work out.

"No, Gaara. You stay right here. We will talk about this later! First, the Kazekage and Lord Ashoka must be informed about this." Yashamaru said with an iron tone.

Gaara could only watch helplessly as Inari was dragged out of his room by Yashamaru, seemingly anxious about the fact that her father and his father would find out about their meeting. Only one last time did she turn her head and said:

"Soooorry, I didn't want to rat on you. Please don't throw water over me while I'm sleeping. But I'll still come visit you again tomorrow."

"Why would I do th-"

And then the door closed, and she was gone. She hadn't even answered his question. And why did she think he would waste precious water by simply throwing it at her? She surely would answer these glaring questions tomorrow, when she'd come back to him.

Yet, she didn't turn up the next day. His father did though, to give him a massive scolding and a punishment too, for hurting the daughter of such an important man, for hurting their guests. Something about ruining her future. He did not fully comprehend that part, but he knew he had not wanted it to end like that. And Yashamaru came too, giving him another scolding, but also listening to Gaara's story about his time with her. But Inari did not show up, not even the day after that. And something told him deep inside that she wouldn't come see him ever again.

And every time that thought returned to his head, an unbearable ache in his chest started to blossom where the warm feeling had shortly been.

* * *

 _Thank you for your time and reading this chapter!_


	2. Extraordinary

**So, the second chapter is up, hope you will be able to enjoy this one as well!**

 **And thank you for reviewing, guys! It's just such a motivational booster and I really enjoy reading them!**

 **Now, this chapter serves to set up the scenario a little bit, so it might not be as exciting or interesting to read like the first one. I know replicating canon scenes from the anime might not be as exciting, but I wanted to start off on something you guys are familiar with and then slowly diverege from the original source as time goes on. As always, I'd be more than happy to hear your opinions about this chapter too. Critique is always appreciated!**

* * *

 _ **Extraordinary**_

 _Very unusual or remarkable_

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto could not wait for tomorrow. It would be the first time since their last mission that Team 7 would call in for duty again. He just couldn't sit around anymore doing nothing. He was not easy to wear down, simply a huge bundle of energy and endless motivation. However, after Team 7 had successfully completed their mission in the Land of Waves, even he had been thankful for some time off. The events that had taken place at the bridge still sometimes sneaked their way back to his thoughts, no matter how much he tried to continue. It wasn't that he tried to forget Haku or the events or simply try to act as if it had never happened – he'd never do that – but he wanted to move on. He had needed the time to come to terms with the events of the recent past, but he did not want to get stuck on it. The days that he had needed to sort his thoughts through and collect himself had been necessary, but now that he was done with that, every minute of him sitting idly there had turned into pure torture.

Dwelling on what had happened wouldn't change things, Naruto had to take action himself, he knew that. That was also why he couldn't wait to be back in action again. He'd find and secure his own way of shinobi, and share it with others too, so no one would ever end up like Haku again. Or himself.

Thus in order to achieve this goal, he not only needed to prove his worth as a shinobi, but also become stronger. And he wouldn't get stronger if he sat on his ass twiddling his thumbs. But until tomorrow, his entire team was neither allowed to train nor accept any missions. Which was the exact reason why he was on his way to Ramen Ichiraku by himself at this time of the day. It was the last meal he could afford there for this month, as he was, once again, a little bit short on money. But the ramen was totally worth that, not to mention that he liked the old man and his daughter running the restaurant. Their company was always a nice diversion.

Sakura had declined his offer to spend the day with him, saying she needed to look after Sasuke, as he had been 'out of it' lately. Not that Naruto would know, he hadn't really talked to _him_ ever since their mission, and he did not want to, to be honest. He'd rather spend the day by himself than ask Sasuke to do anything with him; after all, Naruto had _some_ dignity left in him. He was familiar with being alone, one more day wouldn't be such a big deal. Maybe some opportunity would present itself to pull some pranks on some unsuspecting victims. Or train somewhere secluded, so no one would notice his break of rules.

The street he was walking down wasn't filled with too many people, as it was the early afternoon, and most people were either working, in school or on missions. It was because of this reason that he spotted a certain blue-haired kunoichi right away, despite her small and inconspicuous stature. He almost did not recognize her, as he hadn't seen her in a long time. Except maybe when she had been a victim of one of his graffiti escapades, along with countless other citizens of Konoha. Now that he thought about it, about half of his interactions with her had been based on pranks; Not the best basis for a friendly relationship or anything of that sort. On the other hand, the girl he was observing now had always been hard to read, sometimes making no sense at all.

Contemplating if he should at least greet her or if that would just result in some weird conversation he did not want to be part of, he almost didn't notice how her amber eyes had already locked onto his form as well. _Almost_. Therefore, he was forced to watch with slight uncertainty her reaction after spotting and recognizing him.

He wasn't sure if he should have felt relieved or annoyed when a small, joyous grin grew on her face as she redirected her route to march toward him. Naruto had grown quite jealous of Inari over their shared time at the Academy. She had managed to graduate one year earlier than the rest of them, which in turn meant that she had not only beaten him, but also his rival, Sasuke. But what had added more insult to the action was the simple fact that Inari wasn't that much of a high flyer in the first place. She had been good, but never been the best. Sasuke had always managed to gain the title of the top student in class, with her not ever really being second or third best either.

Still, that hadn't bothered her to take the final test last year anyway, against the advice of all their teachers. Surprisingly for everyone, she had passed the test and been assigned to her own team after that. Since then, Naruto had somewhat held a grudge against her, and it totally had nothing to do with the fact that he himself had taken the same final test last year too, but had failed miserably. Nope, those two incidents were not correlated at all.

So it wasn't a surprise that he did not look too happy when she came to a stand in front of him, still smiling like there were no worries in the entire world.

"Hello Naruto, long time no see." she greeted him, ignorant of his low-key simmering.

"Hello Inari. What the hell are _you_ doing here. Shouldn't you be on a mission or something?" he snorted tensely.

"Not really. We just returned from a C-Rank mission only this morning and won't be summoned until the late afternoon. I was only returning from the post office to retrieve a package and some letters when I saw you walking down the street." she replied cheerily.

"You've been a kunoichi for a year and you are still only assigned to C-Rank missions? Hah, I could top that any day!"

He expected her to at least be annoyed by that, but instead she just looked at him curiously. Her golden eyes widened a small bit in surprise when they had fixed themselves on Naruto's head protector that she apparently hadn't noticed at first.

"Oh, so you graduated the Academy too? I didn't even know! Congratulations, Naruto."

Her words that were probably meant good will only infuriated Naruto further. How had she _not_ heard about him becoming a genin?And more importantly, why did she even sound so surprised in the first place?!

"Oi, why are you so surprised about that?! I am going to be the best shinobi Konohagakure has ever seen, you just wait and see until I become the next Hokage, believe it!"

"Sure, but first you have to complete some missions that are higher ranked than D." she noted lightly, as if trying to cheer him down from his high horse.

"Just to let you know, I have already been on a C-Rank mission already. So you and your lazy ass should put more effort into it if you want to keep up with me."

That made her eyes go even wider in awe, a feat Naruto was unashamedly proud of. The results of his training and talent were already showing, and soon, everyone would react to his accomplishments as Inari did right now.

"Really? But you just graduated this year. And you got a C-Rank mission already? Not fair, we waited for months to be assigned to one." she pouted, not even trying to hide her envy.

Naruto's mood shot up instantly, reveling in the feeling of having accomplished something outstanding.

"Of course they did. The other missions were just way too easy for me, I wanted a challenge for once." he confidently boasted.

But instead of being marveled at by Inari, as he had expected her to do, she suddenly changed her position: Leaning slightly more on her right leg and raising one eyebrow in doubt, a glint of mischief blinking in her eyes while she tried to cross her arms in front of her chest without dropping either the letters or the package.

"Really? You sure you actually contributed to it at all, or were you just pulling pranks while the others did all the work?" she questioned, now definitely in a teasing tone, her face appearing uglier than ever to Naruto.

What a stupid hag.

"Of course I did, believe it. Actually, I did the most part, you idiot."

"Not gonna believe it until you offer some sort of proof."

Naruto remembered now why he had so often pulled pranks on her, because she deserved it with her mean teasing sometimes. But this time, she didn't know that he had the upper hand. He had achieved something huge, and that was something she couldn't just talk down or dismiss so easily.

"Hah, if I hadn't done anything, they wouldn't have named the bridge after me!" he shouted triumphantly.

That, indeed, had the effect that Naruto had aimed for, for once. A surprisingly difficult feat when dealing with Inari.

"You're kidding, right?! Who would name their bridge 'Naruto' anyway?" she replied, still in teasing, but now way less certain in her arguing than before.

"How is Inari any better?" he shot back immediately.

"What? Inari is a beautiful name, so shut up!"

Only then did he notice something. A picture of a small boy from the Land of Waves who only recently had proved his strength flashed up in Naruto's mind. A _boy_ with a strikingly familiar name, might he add.

"You are right, it is. For a boy's name!" he replied with a nasty grin.

"Huh? Are you saying I am a boy?!" she almost yelled right into his face, a red glow spreading on her dark cheeks.

"What can I say? I guess your parents just confused you for a boy when you were born. Can't blame them, really."

"It's a girl's name!" she defended herself rigorously.

"Whatever, Inari- _bo_!" he teased back, being proud of having the upper hand in this argument.

Then though, to his slight bafflement, he watched as her facial expression slowly changed. When there had been anger and embarrassment evident in her face only seconds ago, it slowly made space for a blank expression, quickly followed up by a small frown. It appeared that she was in deep thought, though Naruto could not fathom what she was thinking about so hardly. Finally, she suddenly started giggling, her mood changing instantly. As if someone had pulled a lever in her mind, she suddenly did not appear to be distressed or irritated anymore, her mask cracking.

"You can be such a mean dork sometimes, you know that? Geez, what a boy I would make." she pressed out between her giggles.

"Huh?! What the hell is wrong with you? I swear, you are such a weirdo, Inari." was the only thing he could come up with.

How could a person change moods so fast and fluently just like that? It had been a confusing character trait back in the Academy, it hadn't become any less confusing over time.

A loud grumbling disrupted their conversation, silencing Inari's snickering directly and reminding Naruto why he had left his home in the first place.

"Well, someone is hungry. Now that I think about it, I haven't eaten anything yet too. Let's go eat something together."

"Hold on a minute, what if I don't want to eat with you?" Naruto suddenly exclaimed, not too eager on the prospect of eating lunch with her together.

"I'll pay?" she quickly offered.

"Fine, whatever." Naruto instantly grumbled, somewhat gloomy that she had been able to convince him otherwise so quickly.

Twenty minutes later, both of them were sitting at Ramen Ichiraku's, eating some delicious ramen and having a surprisingly civil conversation. It had mostly revolved around Naruto's life as a shinobi and what he had been through since Inari had graduated one year ago. Naruto was happy that she seemed so genuinely interested in his life, though he would never admit that to anyone, least of all her. It was good to have someone listen to him once in a while and not have the feeling they only spent time with him together just because they had to. And not even her sometimes annoying shifts in mood or teasing once in a while could really change that, though it served as a good reminder why he had never felt guilty about pranking her; She sometimes deserved it.

Nonetheless, Naruto could not help but feel his pride grow as he told her about his last mission and watch her honest reaction to it. But he did not go into too much detail, especially not when it came to Haku or Zabuza. It did not feel right to brag about their deaths. Thankfully, Inari had quickly changed the subject afterwards.

* * *

"So, after all that's happened up until now, did you and your team consider joining the Chunin Exam then?" she asked.

"The what?" Naruto could only stupidly ask.

"The Chunin Exam? Don't tell me you've never heard of it?"

"Don't make such a fuss about it and just tell me already!"

Inari stared at the blonde with a raised eyebrow. Somehow, this was exactly how she had remembered Naruto. He hadn't changed in this entire year. She wasn't sure if she should be grateful about it or not. But that had always been part of his special personality, and she couldn't help but find it amusing. Annoying and amusing. Not that she'd tell him, that would just result in him painting her home with crude images again.

"Well, it's basically an international exam you have to take as a genin to become a chunin. All the hidden villages in Konoha's neighborhood and Konohagakure itself gather their most capable genin and let them take the exam together. This time, the Chunin exams will be held here in Konoha." Inari shared her knowledge that she totally hadn't acquired only two days earlier from her smarter teammate.

"Hah, sounds just like the challenge I've been looking for." Naruto thought out loud.

"I thought Sasuke posed enough of a challenge for you?" Inari commented innocently.

"What do you know? I could beat Sasuke any time if I wanted to!"

"That's not how I remember it."

"Then maybe you should get your head checked once in a while. I've succeeded Sasuke long ago."

Inari doubted that, but did not voice her inner thoughts. She rather liked Naruto when he was an unstoppable force of motivation, even more when that unstoppable motivation was not directed at fighting her. She also liked when he was an unstoppable force of idiocy. Not that she'd ever say that out loud, but his absurd will to become a shinobi had often inspired her in the Academy, making her want to push herself even harder. And she knew she had only been one of many in their class. That was a strength that should not be underestimated. Not to mention that if what he had told her was even remotely true, then he had made gigantic steps in his skills and strength since the last time she had witnessed him fight. But maybe he was lying. Maybe.

"You know what, Naruto? I think you can do it." she said, a huge smile plastered over her face.

"Huh?"

"Not gonna repeat myself, I know you heard it." she snapped back at his slightly baffled reaction.

He huffed out in annoyance, but she could still see his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"Of course I'll make it through the Chunin Exams, believe it!"

He said it with so much self-confidence, that Inari could almost forget what a hopeless case Naruto had appeared to be back at the Academy.

"By the way, what do you do again in this exam?"

The key word being 'almost'. She was not sure if she should be dumbfounded or simply amused by his recklessness. Though it did kind of annoy her that he had actually caught her on the fact that she had pretended to know more about the issue than she actually knew. Which was next to nothing.

"I don't really know. You only hear one or two things and that they are pretty hard and dangerous. But my friend didn't really tell me what you do in these exams. I don't think she exactly knows either." Inari explained, a bit embarrassed that she couldn't offer him more info on the subject.

"Your friend?" Naruto echoed.

"My teammate. We get along quite well. I really like them."

She regretted it though the instant she caught Naruto's short-lived look of envy flash across his face.

His eyes hushed to the small amount of letters she had been carrying with her.

"Are these also letters from 'friends' of yours?" Naruto asked, masking his envy with a facade of annoyance and disbelief.

"Yes. No. Well, actually, most of them are from my father. Asking me how I am doing, how life is going. If everything's all right. That he misses me. Sometimes, he's urging me to return home, but I think my mother keeps him from actually doing it himself. Right now, he keeps me updated on his formal acquaintances and reminds me how my absence from the estate will make it more difficult for him to find me a suitable husband in the future. On the other side though, he isn't looking too hard for that either. Not in those circles, at least."

"What?! But you're my age, you're way too young to marry."

"Not now, you smart-ass. Once I'm older, and once I've become a more skilled fighter. But it becomes very difficult to find myself an option without having something to show for it. When no other noble family ever sees me in person, they get veeeery suspicious. And I sure as hell won't marry one of my brothers. Or cousins." she explained, not really wanting to think too much about it. Ew, just ew.

"That's just stupid." Naruto commented, furrowing his brows in distaste.

"No, it's not." Inari snapped back defensively.

What did he know about nobility anyway.

Her mood did not stay sour for long. This one argument wouldn't affect the rest of their short time together. She had enjoyed her time with Naruto, yet a quick glance to the clock told her that she needed to be on her way two minutes ago if she wanted to be on time to her team's meeting. And she hadn't even made it to her home to store the letters and the package away. But her time with Naruto had definitely been worth it. It was nice catching up with her former classmates whom she had rarely seen during the last year. Or catching up with anyone, lately.

"Sorry Naruto, I'll have to go now. But it was nice talking to you again."

"See you around, Inari. And thank you for the ramen." he grinned at her.

"Don't mention it. And who knows, maybe we'll see each other during the Chunin exams." She said before walking through the door, breaking into a run. If she ran fast enough, she could make a quick stop at her home to leave her package and letters behind there and make it in time to their team's meeting. In fact though, she would arrive fifteen minutes late and get her whole team a punishment from their sensei. Life was just great.

* * *

They were strangers, not from Konoha. And while Naruto may have not realized it yet, Sakura had noticed their different head protectors right away. Not only that, but the blonde girl with four braids and a huge fan strapped on her back and the boy with purple face paint and the black body suit were threatening a citizen of Konoha right now. As far as she was concerned, they were enemies until proven otherwise. But what to do? The boy was holding Konohamaru in an iron grip, the small child's struggle futile. And while the girl did not look pleased with her companion's actions, she also did not try to prevent him from doing anything worse either.

Naruto had already tried to intervene and save Konohamaru from the sinister-looking shinobi from Sunagakure, but had been floored almost instantly. Sakura wasn't sure what he had done, but she was sure it had to do with the controlled movement of his fingers that had caused Naruto's sudden incapability to move properly. She had never seen this kind of jutsu before though, and he hadn't used any hand seals either. And while she still had problems to come to terms with Sasuke's words, they were still true: She was the weakest of them three. She couldn't beat an opponent that Naruto already struggled against, not in an open confrontation. If only Sasuke had been here, he would have probably saved Konohamaru by now.

Maybe she couldn't fight them, but maybe, if they stopped provoking them, they'd let them go in peace. Then she'd report the presence of two foreign shinobis to a higher authority and let them deal with the rest. Jumping into a fight she couldn't win would get them nowhere. Of course, that was her trail of thoughts. Naruto, on the other hand, did not seem to have thought that far.

"Hey, you fat cat, drop Konohamaru right now or I'll kick your ass right out of this village!" he yelled angrily at the other boy, giving not one proper thought about the situation they were currently in.

Sakura's reaction came instantly, hitting Naruto over his thick skull and putting him in a headlock swiftly, her temper flaring up faster than a bonfire.

"Are you an idiot?! Do you think angering him further will get us anywhere?" she yelled right into Naruto's ear, not caring if he'd go deaf because of it.

But what had been said could not be taken back, and to Sakura's horror, she watched as the stranger's brow furrowed.

"You are annoying too, you know." he announced, his words targeted towards a struggling Naruto.

For a moment, he seemingly had forgotten about the helpless child he held hostage right in front of him.

"I don't like midgets. Especially younger ones that are just stupid and rude. Makes me wanna kill them."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock, and she knew that Naruto was probably sporting a similar expression of disbelief. Barely registering the anxious whimpers from Moegi and Udon to her left, her brain was running quickly through all the possible scenarios that could unfold now. She had assumed that they'd beat Konohamaru up, at worst. But _killing_? Not to mention a civilian in the middle of a foreign village? She did not think them to be that ruthless. What to do? They couldn't let the child get killed, no matter how many offensive comments he had dropped about her forehead only two minutes ago.

"Seriously, Kankuro, we're not supposed to do this. We don't have much time before _he_ comes back, and I want to get to Inari while we are still left on our own." the girl stated, not bothered at all by the death threats Kankuro was spouting so casually.

"Like I'd care. Just go on your own if you think that'll help us. I don't need help from you for these two."

"Stop acting like a child, you know we're supposed to stay together." the girl replied, mildly annoyed by this Kankuro's immature behavior.

That new bit of information surprised Sakura. They weren't talking about Ashoka Inari, were they? What did she have to do with two shinobis like these, not to mention that they were from another hidden village.

"You know Inari-bo?! No way would she ever spend time with a scarecrow like you!" Naruto managed to shout out at Kankuro despite almost choking in Sakura's merciless hold.

Although the desire to just strangle Naruto remained, Sakura somewhat agreed with Naruto. She wasn't particularly close with Inari, but that just seemed wrong. She didn't remember Inari as the bullying type; She remembered her as a moronic and air-headed teaser with no sense of tact, despite saying otherwise, but not of an intentionally vicious type.

So if it seemed unlikely for them to be friends, then that didn't leave too many options.

"You leave her alone, you hear. Just drop Konohamaru and leave before I-"

"Didn't I tell you that threats don't get us anywhere?!" Sakura interrupted Naruto's rant by tightening her grip on his throat a little bit more.

Konohamaru was at the verge of crying, small tears already glistening at the corner of his eyes. And Sakura could do nothing but prevent Naruto from making it worse. It sickened her.

"Huh? You know her? Didn't think Konoha would be that small of a place." the girl noted, a little bit surprised.

"You know what, Temari? Let me take care of this little tad real quickly and then we'll be on our way." Kankuro offered, fist raised, underlining his statement.

A cold shiver went down Sakura's spine, numbed at the feeling of total helplessness. She could just watch as an evermore panicking Konohamaru started shouting in anxiety again, unable to wrench himself free of Kankuro's secure grip.

But Temari just furrowed her brow, fed up with her partner's behavior.

"Drop him, Kankuro. I'm really not in the mood to get in trouble right now. We didn't come all this way to be disqualified from the Exam before it even started."

"You should listen to her, you know?" a new voice chided him, a voice Sakura would recognize anywhere.

Releasing Naruto in an instant, her gaze moved to the direction from where she suspected Sasuke, and couldn't contain an excited shout escaping her lips when she finally spotted him. Leaning on a tree branch, there indeed sat Sasuke, lazily throwing a pebble up in his hand, a smug and self-confident expression on his face. Now they had a chance at saving Konohamaru. That guy was no match for Sasuke.

Kankuro didn't even move his head in Sasuke's direction, just looking at him out of the corner of his eyes. Though the distaste at some stranger sticking his nose into this affair was written all over his painted face.

"Ah, just another brat pissing me off. There seem to be a lot of them around here."

His grip on Konohamaru did not loosen, but he had indeed taken down his other fist due to the interruption. That guy was done for, now that Sasuke was here, this situation had turned into their favor again. These strangers just weren't aware of it yet. Sakura could breathe again. Moegi and Udon visibly relaxed too, the only one not happy at Sasuke's arrival were the strangers and Naruto. But who cared what Naruto thought?

"I won't repeat myself." Sasuke stated.

To Sakura's surprise, Kankuro did indeed release Konohamaru, who fell roughly on his hands and knees, coughing violently and rubbing the tears away from his eyes. Once he had recovered from the choking grip a tiny bit, he wasted no time hurrying back to their side, distancing himself from the stranger as far as possible. She faintly heard Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon run away from the scene as quick as possible. But Kankuro had not let go of Konohamaru out of fear, as Sakura now realized; He had taken in a fighting position, staring menacingly up at Sasuke, who did not seem fazed at all. A smirk appeared on Sakura's lips. There was no way Sasuke would loose to the likes of these, especially not now, when the whole team 7 was there to back him up.

"You know, you little punk, the likes of you are just the worst. All talk and no bite. Come down here so we can settle this properly." he snarled at Sasuke.

But he just smirked, amused by the blatant display of ignorance from this Kankuro. He made no move to come down from that tree.

"Fine, if you won't come down on your own, then I'll be happy to help you." he said, irritated that he was not taken seriously.

He quickly reached behind his back, grabbing the large bandaged cylindrical object with brown hair peeking out of the top. Sakura just wondered what kind of weapon that could be. She had never seen anything like it, and therefor had no clue what it would do. They had to be careful.

"Kankuro, stop it. That's just wasted time and energy." Temari exclaimed, slightly shocked that he was actually preparing for a fight.

Although she did a way better job at concealing her emotions, Sakura could still hear the shock and surprise layered in her voice.

"Apparently no one taught these snots an ounce of respect. I'm just going to cha-"

"Kankuro, stop it." another male voice boomed right next to Sasuke.

Sakura stared surprised at the three; Another stranger, around their age, with red hair and dark circles around his green eyes stood upside down on another tree branch, right next to Sasuke. His look was as cold as ice, the posture stiff and his arms crossed in front of him, only underlining his displeasure concerning the entire situation. How long had he been there. She had not noticed his arrival, neither sensing his chakra nor hearing his approach. The only ones capable of such a feat that she knew of were Kakashi-sensei, the other jonin of Konohagakure and Sasuke himself. Naruto huffed in surprise as well, staring disbelievingly up at the newcomer. When she searched Sasuke's expression, she realized with shock that he probably hadn't sensed him either, despite his natural and above average skills. This shinobi was something else, a serious threat to them, should he decide to attack them as well.

But to her bafflement, Kankuro and Temari did not seem relieved at the boy's arrival. On the contrary, they stiffened visibly, losing any composure they had held up until now. They looked terrified. Kankuro had almost dropped his bandaged bundle out of shock.

"Oh-Hey Gaara." Kankuro stuttered, looking terrified.

Sakura wondered quietly just what the relationship between these three was.

"Quiet. You are a disgrace for Sunagakure. Losing control of yourself and letting yourself be provoked so easily." Gaara spoke.

His words sounded threatening, not because of any anger displayed in voice, but rather because of the lack of it. The monotone sent creepy chills down her spine.

"Look- They start-

"You are an pathetic example of a shinobi, and as such, I don't want to hear any of your equally pathetic excuses."

"O-Okay. I'm sorry, Gaara. I really am."

Temari had not spoken a word, resorting to cover her fear with a nervous smile. It only made this Gaara look a lot more intimidating. She would not let him out of her eyesight, who knew what he could or couldn't do?

All of a sudden, his body lost it's color, turning a sandy yellow and crumbling away. With shock, Sakura watched as his entire body turned into sand, losing itself in the wind and gathering itself directly in front of Temari and Kankuro. There, it rearranged itself into the form of the boy again. What sort of jutsu was that?! Never was he just a regular genin from another village, not with the skills he had deliberately shown up until now. If this Gaara thought it was okay to show these jutsus without a second thought, then he must have something way more impressive up his sleeve. Something way more lethal.

She internally froze when his gaze settled on their group, she did not want to have his attention at all. A side glance to Sasuke told her that he did not trust this guy as well. Only Naruto was apparently unimpressed by this shinobi, but that was probably because of his ignorant stupidity. Oh, she prayed that Naruto wouldn't manage to provoke this Gaara.

"I am sorry for any trouble he caused."

"Do you think after attacking Konohamaru like that, a simple sorry-"

"Shut the _hell_ up, Naruto" Sakura hissed, not hesitating to hit Naruto on the head as hard as possible.

Thankfully, that had been enough to silence him for a few moments, as he winced in pain, holding his head that now grew a serious lump. Trying to make up for Naruto's suicidal course of action, she quickly turned her body to the three foreigners, holding up her hands apologetically and stuttering meekly.

"I'm sorry, just ignore him, he's simply stupid like that."

No reaction. Her words were met with silence and an impassive glare. His eyes had something dark in them, something evil. An awful feeling crept up her spine. She could feel her heart beat vigorously against her chest, a cold layer of sweat slowly covering her skin.

But to her utmost relief, he turned around instead, leaving Naruto's outburst uncommented.

"Let's go, Temari, Kankuro. We arrived a little bit early, but that does not mean that we've got time to play games." the red-haired boy reminded his companions neutrally.

Yet, Sakura couldn't help but suspect an underlying threat somewhere in his words.

"I-I know that." Kankuro replied hastily.

It was as if his personality had been replaced entirely. Nothing from the arrogant and self-confident shinobi remained, instead being replaced with a fearful individual, terrified by the smaller, but also younger boy in front of him. This Temari seemed tense as well, not having spoken a word since this mysterious boy had appeared.

But there was one question still nagging her mind. Just _why_ were these foreign shinobis not only here in Konohagakure, but also running around out in the open? If they did not have permission to do so, they were violating the law. And in order to get a permission you needed a solid reason to justify your intrusion. As much as she just wanted them to leave, she couldn't just let them go off the hook so easily.

"Hey! Please wait a second!"

It had taken her some courage to overcome her unwillingness to indulge this trio any further, but it had to be done. They needed answers.

"What is it?" the red-haired boy asked over his shoulder, only partially turning back around towards her again.

She also felt the annoyed stares of the other two. She would have felt way more confident if it weren't for Naruto, who was just stupidly staring at her as well, entirely clueless about this entire situation. He did not seem to grasp the seriousness of this at all. Typically Naruto. She took a deep breath, collecting all her wits. She had to tread carefully, lest she provoked the conflict she had tried to avoid with Naruto ten seconds ago.

"Judging from your head protectors, you are shinobi from Sunagakure, right?"

"That is correct." the boy answered calmly.

How Sakura wished it were one of the other two answering her questions.

"Sunagakure and Konohagakure may be allies now, but shinobis trespassing into each other's villages without a permit is still forbidden and considered a crime. As shinobi from Konohagakure, it's our duty to inquire after your reason for being here." she tried to explain objectively.

She did not feel confident in accusing them of doing something illegal. If they were here without a permit, they had to act, but she wanted to avoid an unnecessary conflict.

To her surprise, it was the girl who answered her question.

"Don't they tell you anything?" she retorted sharply.

It made Sakura uncomfortable. She had always thought her biggest strength to be her intellect and knowledge. Not being informed on a certain situation did not sit well with her, as it was her self-appointed role of the team to know as much as possible.

Temari held up a piece of paper bearing both the stamps of Sunagakure and Konohagakure, smirking victoriously

"See this pass? Our stay here has been approved by both nations. We are here to partake in the upcoming Chunin Exams this year. Any more questions?"

Sakura silently wondered what the Chunin Exams were, but could not overcome her pride and ask the genin in front of her to elaborate. She wouldn't give herself the humiliation of revealing her lack of knowledge to the others. Instead, she bet on Naruto's usual boldness and ignorance to do the job for her.

"Aw crap! I knew I had forgotten something this morning! Dammit, now Kakashi's gone too!"

Naruto had clasped his hands over his head, giving Sakura the scare of her life when he had burst out in shouts out of nowhere. But what made it all even worse was the fact that Naruto apparently _knew_ what these Chunin Exams were. How was that even possible?! Naruto never bothered to inform himself on pretty much anything! This day just kept getting worse in every way possible.

"Just what the heck are you talking about now, Naruto."

Never had Sakura been happier about Sasuke talking to Naruto. She was so glad she hadn't lost her face just now, she even let Naruto's smug expression go uncommented.

"Oh Sasuke, Sasuke. Don't you know? Well, I didn't expect you to either way."

"Just get on with it and tell us." Sasuke shot back, slightly riled up about Naruto's taunt.

"I wanted to ask Kakashi-sensei if he'd sign us up for the Chunin Exam as well, since I wanted a new challenge where I could prove myself. You see, the Chunin Exams are a series of tests where all the skilled genin from other countries come together, and then they are pitted against each other, and have to pass to become Chunin, so every country has a balanced amount of shinobi."

Sasuke just stared at him, trying to process Naruto's unnecessarily complicated explanation. Sakura, on the other hand, had grasped what Naruto had tried to tell them a little bit faster than him, giving her enough time to get all irritated at Naruto's terrible ability of explaining anything to anyone.

"That's certainly a way to phrase it." Sakura dryly murmured under her breath.

"How did you know that?" Sasuke asked, slightly baffled about Naruto's unexpected offering of valuable information.

"Eh, I just do, you know?" Naruto stated proudly, reveling in the feeling of superiority for once.

Naruto's stupid bragging aside, Sakura still wasn't quite done with the strangers.

"One more thing. You guys know fellow kunoichi Ashoka Inari, right?" Sakura asked, now speaking to the Suna-nins again.

"That's none of your business." the blond replied reluctantly.

She hadn't had much of a problem revealing that info a couple of minutes ago, why was she so hesitant now. Did it have to do with the red-haired boy?

"It damn sure is to us!" Naruto piped up again, to everyone's annoyance.

Why was he so defensive? Not that it was any of Sakura's business, but they hadn't been friends as far as she knew, so hearing this came as a slight surprise to her. Then again, it was Naruto they were talking about, following his trail of thoughts was a lost cause.

"Are you her boyfriend or what?"

"What did you just say, you ugly witch?!"

"Oh well, birds of a feather flock together, I suppose."

"Take that ba-"

"What is your name?" the red-haired boy suddenly interrupted the conversation again.

He didn't even have to raise his voice, the icy sound was enough to get Naruto to shut up.

"Huh? Me?" Naruto stupidly asked.

"Yes." was the simple reply from the boy.

The sudden interest in Naruto unnerved Sakura, especially because up until the mentioning of Inari's name, he had remained eerily apathetic. But now there was something else in his eyes, something Sakura couldn't quite determine. Apparently she wasn't the only one either to become nervous at the boy's sudden interest, as his companions only cast each other quiet, worried glances behind his back.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konohagakure!"

His confident introduction was met, once again, by silence.

"Interesting. I will remember you, Uzumaki Naruto, friend of Ashoka Inari."

That didn't sit well with Sakura. As if this guy had just made Naruto his next target or something.

"Hey, not so fast. How about you tell us _your_ name for a change." Sasuke brought himself back into the conversation, finally jumping down from the tree right in front of Naruto, to the blonde's obvious displeasure.

"Gaara of the Desert." he stated after a short pause.

Then he turned around again, showing no further interest in their small group.

"Come on, let's go."

They were gone in an instant.

"What the hell was that all about?" Naruto loudly asked no one in particular.

"I don't have a clue. But things just got a whole lot more interesting." Sasuke replied, still looking to the spot the three suna-nins had stood only seconds ago.

"More importantly, would you mind telling us more about these Chunin Exams, instead of just letting us stand there like idiots?"

Sakura was so close to abusing Naruto as a punching bag one more time. Naruto's sheepish laugh didn't help her controlling her temper at all.

"You know, I had kinda forgotten about it. Sorry."

"That was just a single embarrassment, Naruto. Right, Sasuke?"

When she did not get any reaction from the Uchiha, she shifted her attention to him once again.

"Sasuke?"

He seemed to be in deep thought. Only after some long-stretched seconds did he move again. To her disappointment though, he left their small group, walking into the other direction entirely.

"Hey, Sasuke you jerk, don't ignore us. Where are you going?!"

But Sasuke could not be bothered by Naruto's shouting.

"You guys can do whatever you want, but I'm going to ask someone some questions."

Sakura could just watch in silent disbelief as the Uchiha disappeared right in front of her eyes, using abnormal high speed and leaving her all alone with a ranting Naruto.


	3. Reticent

**Hello everyone. Here I am once again. Thank you to all those who have followed and favourited this story so far,and especially the ones who took their time to leave a comment. I appreciate your support and I am glad that you could enjoy yourselves thus far!  
**

 **Now, after carnival is finally over, I could spend my time writing this story again.**

 **And it is in this chapter in particular that I noticed something: Writing Chunin-Exam-Gaara is pretty hard. Mainly because he appears to be such a composed and controlled character, only to turn out to be deeply unbalanced, disturbed and bloodthirsty. Like, what's going on in your head, bro? Are calmly plotting everyone's demise, or do you really not give a shit in that particular moment? Who knows?! I certainly don't!**

 **So I tried my best and the result is...hard to evaluate. On one hand I _hope_ that I got him just about right. On the other hand, I can't be so sure. If you have any advice or additional insight concerning his character, I'd be more than happy to hear it. As always critique of any kind is welcomed.**

 **But until then, I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter**

* * *

 _ **Reticent**_

 _Not revealing one's thoughts or feelings readily._

* * *

Their sensei had left them on the training grounds a while ago, dismissing them from their drilling session with his disappearance. Despite that, Inari and her two teammates had agreed to stay longer in order to prepare for the upcoming Exam. Sitting under the setting sun, covered in grime, sweat and small, superficial cuts, her amber eyes flickered between the panting boy to her right and the relatively calm and collected looking girl to her left. After each of them had already trained their self-appointed techniques by themselves and in combat with each other for the past hours, it was now time for them to discuss combat and tactical strategies. And while Inari had already thought about one or two basic plans in case of different emergencies – like, if they get separated, try to find each other again and other helpful gems of plans – her attention, and the boy's attention as well, was more fixed on the red-haired girl.

"Since I am almost certain that we will be faced with some sort of team combat, we should focus on our group dynamic in a fight first. Communication methods, code words appointed roles in our team and so forth." she spoke over Inari's and Sarutahiko's quiet panting noises.

Sarutahiko found doubt in that assumption.

"What makes you so sure about that, Uzume?"

Uzume's blue eyes gazed quietly at him, giving him her full attention, but only for a split-second.

"Mainly because we can only participate in a team of three. Combined with the vague information about the Exam being divided into several tests, and that they're dangerous to the extent that not only a few shinobis have died trying to master them, my suggestion isn't too far fetched. Of course, I could be wrong too, but it wouldn't hurt to put some thought into it anyway."

"Makes sense to me." Inari simply agreed.

Sarutahiko murmured something to himself, but nodded.

"So, any suggestions?" he asked, waiting for his teammates to propose some ideas.

It was a voice behind them that answered instead.

"I might have a point or two to offer." the black-haired boy leaning casually against a tree remarked.

Inari turned her head and torso towards his direction without changing her seating position, alarmed at how someone had managed to sneak up on the three of them without any of them noticing. Once she recognized the boy standing a safe distance away though, she relaxed a little bit, feeling her initial surge of anxiousness lessen. At least it had been Uchiha Sasuke who had snuck up on them, so she did not feel entirely incompetent as a kunoichi. Just a little bit.

Surtahiko was watching the intruder to their 'private discussion' with a silent grudge, and Inari could already tell why:

It wasn't because the fellow shinobi had crashed their private conversation, but the fact that he had not actually sensed the Uchiha boy coming either. What a blow to his pride that must have been. She swore she could hear Sarutahiko mumble something like 'Arrogant little snot' under his breath.

The only one not looking at Sasuke was Uzume, who was sitting with her back facing the outsider, an unreadable expression masking her facial features. She was the only one not looking surprised in any way. Inari quietly asked herself if she had known that someone had been standing there for some time or if she just had that good of a poker face. One could never be sure with Uzume.

"Then maybe you should go and share it with your teammates, not us." the red-haired kunoichi next to Inari replied calmly, discernably not impressed.

"Any particular reason for you to bother us, you little snot?" Sarutahiko added, eyes narrowing disapprovingly.

But instead of reacting to Sarutahiko's blatant provocation, the Uchiha boy only smirked to himself. It raised the urges inside of Inari to kick him in the face. Not that she would succeed at that, but the thought was nice enough. She had to hold back a grin at that image, even if it was about as likely to happen as raccoon dog and a fox to become friends. So deep in thought, she almost missed Sasuke's next lines.

"Certainly not anything important that would involve the likes of you."

Inari could practically feel Sarutahiko's anger rise in a matter of seconds as the unintelligible rambling to himself intensified, leaving Inari to cast a dubious glance at Sasuke and a questioning gaze back at Uzume. She still did not have anything but an almost emotionless stare into the far distance to give. If the older kunoichi hadn't actually addressed Sasuke before, Inari would have been convinced that she had been ignoring this entire situation just because she could.

"You do not strike me as the kind to take strolls in the woods just to start fights with whomever you come across." Uzume continued before Sarutahiko could retort anything else.

"You don't know what kind I am." Sasuke answered, a cold tone layering his voice, his eyes darkening narrowing in a quiet challenge.

A quick look between the three children sitting on the grass, and they all came to the same conclusion.

"Brooding and arrogant." came the unison reply to the question that had asked for no answer.

Inari noted with a small grin that not even the master of impassiveness Uchiha Sasuke could contain his air of aloofness. A deadpan expression breaking through, showing emotions Inari had sometimes doubted the boy could even emote; Except maybe annoyance. And pride, definitely pride. Still, he obviously hadn't expected an actual reply to his statement, and certainly not such a blunt one. But Uchiha Sasuke wouldn't be Uchiha Sasuke if he couldn't regain his composure in less than a second, hiding his emotions once again behind an almost perfectly arrogant smirk.

"I came here to have a talk with you, Inari." he finally revealed.

That was unexpected. Sasuke had basically ignored her for their entire time together at the Academy. Quite frankly, after some awkward attempts talking to him, trying to establish at least some sort of base for respect or at least recognition – and immediately making the majority of the female population of the class her temporary enemy by that – she had given up. Since then she had only watched him when he had been performing jutsu in class, an attempt at emulating part of his natural skill by observation and imitation. By the time her final year at the Academy had arrived, she had been sure that he could not even remember her name. Thus he proving her wrong right now was as shocking as a lightning justu straight into the rear.

Mentioning collateral damage to her behind, another thought came up in her mind, letting a fear for her physical as well as social life rise inside of her: If one member of the officially unofficial Sasuke fan-club was around to witness this – which was at least 80 percent of the female population her age – she'd be toast. Again. Ridiculous, one might think. They were by themselves in the middle of the woods, occupying a training ground; There were no girls around except Uzume and herself. But she knew better, if Sasuke was here, so could Sakura at least; She was on his team, right? Not to mention that since their Academy days, there had always been at least one girl tailing behind that black-haired monster of talent. .Everywhere! Every time she had questioned if one of these girls would ever make it as a kunoichi, she had just to remind herself how talented they were at stalking Sasuke, and all her doubts had been blown away in an instant.

Thus, the girl was overwhelmed by an urge to scan her surroundings to the last detail, making sure there was no secondary threat lurking in the shadows. Would Uzume be a problem, falling to the gloomy Uchiha-charme? That would turn out to be highly problematic, to say the least.

"What's the matter, Inari? You look like someone declared war on you." Sarutahiko asked, a little bit taken aback by her sudden spike in paranoia.

"Do you think he may attack you?" Uzume added, also a bit unnerved by Inari's frantic looking around.

Sasuke, still standing a safe distance away, not bothering to show the courtesy of coming closer, also watched with slight suspicion the mildly bizarre behavior, though he overplayed it quite well. Inari had always been on the quirky side, this was unexpectedly expected.

"No one but us heard that, right? Like, nothing remotely female got that? Not even female insects and lady-bugs listened in?"

"If you don't count Uzume." her comrade noted, even more confused now.

"Why would that bother you?"

She leaned forward, getting unorthodoxly close to them. Inari knew Uzume had to consciously suppress the desire to push her face a considerable distance away from her again, being very appreciative of her personal space. With an almost terrified voice Inari explained to her visibly tensed teammates the cause of her panicked behavior.

"You don't know what this guy does to the ladies. Friendships were shattered, lives were ruined, a social hierarchy completely turned upside down. Sisters turned onto each other, every girl was a possible threat to their best friend. It is dangerous as a girl to gain Sasuke's attention in the presence of other girls; Life-threatening, even. Like, the envy is real! I kid you not. I couldn't find a female friend in over a year because I wasn't aware of that."

Her panic was met with Uzume looking at her disbelievingly, followed by her hand literary shoving Inari's face so far back that she fell hard on her back, hitting her head even harder on the ground. The kunoichi could practically feel the new bump rising on the back of her skull. Sarutahiko's grumbling and unintelligible ranting intensified. She was sure she had heard something along the lines of 'delusional lunatic'. Sasuke, who had actually put effort into listening in on her words just wondered how someone like her had ever even made it this far as a human being, let alone graduate from the Academy.

"Just talk to him, we'll save you from the angry mob if necessary." the red-head irritably reassured her.

"Don't you fall into my back Uzume, don't succumb to his charm. Stay strong." Inari begged her friend as she slowly stood up, making her way to the patiently, not really patiently waiting Sasuke.

"I'll try to." came the dry reply.

It was an awkward walk to the Uchiha boy, him still not moving an inch, having his hands shoved deep into his pockets and waiting for her to reach him. He couldn't signal her in any other obvious way that he did not perceive her as a possible threat at all. At the same time, she could feel the intense glares from Sarutahiko and Uzume on her back, no doubt watching their upcoming exchange intently. They would step in the moment Inari would get into trouble.

That both made Inari glad and furious at the same time. But neither of these emotions could compare to the fact that she was ardently trying to figure out just _what_ she had done to gain his attention.

"So, what do I owe the honor of achieving what no other girl could do?" she attempted to sound cool, trying to cover up her nervousness, but regretting that remark the instant it had left her mouth.

If she looked at Sasuke this closely, she was reminded of how handsome he was. She could understand anyone being infatuated with him, a detail she had forgotten soon after she had given up on making any sort of contact to him. But his black eyes were cold, staring at her impassively, making his initial attraction caused by his looks and skills she knew he possessed forfeit. It also did not help that he had embarrassed her repeatedly in front of the entire class during their Academy days. Never had she seen him genuinely smile or laugh, and she was sure that he simply wasn't capable of doing so. That was probably the way he had been born, she assumed.

"What do you know about 'Gaara of the Desert'?"

"What do _you_ know about Gaara?" she shot back instinctively, taken completely off-guard by that question.

She had not expected that name, nor had she thought about him too often for some years. The red-head popped up only when she thought about Sunagakure, or the desert it was located in, the associations burned deep inside her head. Her palms twitched uncomfortably, and she had to consciously suppress scratching them. She had not considered that anyone around here would even know him. However, Sasuke had just proven her to be wrong. Again.

"He's a genin from Sunagakure, and here to participate in the Cunin Exams."

"It seems like everyone partakes in these tests this year." she mumbled more to herself, silently counting the people she already knew on a personal level joining her this year in these Exams. There were already way more than she would have expected.

"He seemed to know you." Sasuke added, insinuating something, though Inari had no clue what.

She also had no clue why Sasuke would show any interest in Gaara. She remembered his sweet and gentle, although somewhat awkward nature fondly. On the other hand, she also remembered her father's words. Or the stories people from the Land of Wind told each other.

 _'Don't you ever put yourself in such dangers again. The boy is evil, a monstrosity.'_

She unconsciously clenched her gloved hands at the clashing memories. Nothing about the boy she'd met had been standing out for the Uchiha to take interest in. But the boy she had _heard_ about...

What had Sasuke seen, she wondered? And what did it mean to him in order to seek her out all of a sudden?

"My father is the head of the Ashoka family, as you know. Our family is one of the main traders of agricultural goods to at least two of the five great nations. Years ago, when my father went to Sunagakure for some matter of business, he took me with him. That's when I briefly met Gaara."

Nothing that she was telling him was helping Sasuke find out more about his subject of interest, and she did it deliberately. Sasuke may have been from the same village, but that did not mean she would throw valuable information about all the people she had ever known right in front of his feet. Not even when he asked nicely. If she thought about it, Sasuke had not even bothered doing that. What a jerk.

"A friend of yours then?" Sasuke prodded further, trying to tease usable information out of her.

What it teased out instead where issues she had avoided for various reasons. That question was more uncomfortable than she would have thought. Inari would have liked to call Gaara her friend. On the other hand, people contacted their friends, they did not pop up for a day just to not get in touch afterwards for half a dozen of years. And she'd had multiple opportunities to do so over the years. The irking in her hands started to get unbearably annoying.

"Not really, no. I doubt he even remembers me by now." was her hesitant answer

"Believe me, he does remember you. You know that there is more to him though, right?"

It almost sounded like an accusation. What should she tell him? She had met the boy as a nice individual, but her five-year old self had been naive, her perception deceiving. The story and the myths surrounding him had a truth to them, a foundation set in an objective reality, not her subjective memories. But still, did she trust herself, or some warped myths?

"They say he is the incarnation of a demon, who kills for his own joy. It is told that his skill is so great that nothing can even touch him. He is said to be the ultimate weapon of Sunagakure, who does not know mercy." she repeated the words of her father.

There was a glint in Sasuke's eyes, too fleeting for Inari to read. But it had not emulated any emotion one would normally feel when hearing such a foreboding rumor.

"Sounds more like a fairy tale if you ask me."

The need to scratch her hands intensified.

"Who knows?" she replied, shrugging casually "I survived my encounter quite easily. Obviously, you are also still alive."

"So you say he isn't particularly hostile, but what about the other thing; That no one can touch him? What kind of jutsu would that be, I wonder?"

 _'That would be like ratting on you. And my brothers told me that ratting on someone is a no-go!'_

Inari wasn't Gaara's friend, they weren't even good acquaintances. She wasn't obliged to be loyal to him in any way. But he wasn't a stranger either, even if their encounter had been a short one. Almost the same was true for Sasuke, but he was a fellow shinobi from her own village; Technically, they were allies. She had warned him of what Gaara was supposedly capable of, she had fulfilled her duty. This topic was very uncomfortable, and she wanted this conversation to end as soon as possible.

"I really don't know what to tell you. I only met him once when I was five, and then never again. Of course, I _could_ tell you about our 'play-date' back then. Maybe the way he handed me toys over will tell you what kind of fighter he is."

Ironically, that actually would give him a huge hint. Not a detail she needed to share with Sasuke. Her tone had been drier than the desert said boy was supposed to hail from, only implying a slight annoyance at Sasuke's incomprehension of her not knowing anything more useful. The underlying message had been picked up by Sasuke nonetheless. His eyes narrowed in distrust, contemplating something, though what it was, Inari could not tell.

"Isn't it strange for a supposed demon to go on play-dates? Something's missing here..."

She knew then that he knew that she wasn't telling him something. Had it been anyone else, she wouldn't have cared one bit if he was onto something or not. But this was Sasuke, the genius from the Uchiha clan. If he wanted to find out the truth, then he would get it. Maybe not with force, but with other, more subtle ways. He was a shinobi, after all. A silent ninja trained to stay in the shadows. Oh, wait a minute.

"Don't you dare stalk me now! The girls will kill me!" she suddenly yelled at him after realizing the terrifying possibility.

That caught him off-guard entirely. What seemed perfectly coherent and plausible for her was completely out of context and topic-changing for him. But apparently, this happened quite often.

"What?"

"You heard me!"

"You don't even make sense."

"I won't repeat myself. Don't you even think about following me around!"

"Don't think too highly of yourself. I've got better things to do than that."

"Good for you. Then go do these better things, 'cause I am also a little bit busy right now." she snapped back.

At that, he was silent. His displeasure was obvious, maybe because she was not even ashamed of practically admitting to withhold information from him. Maybe it was because of that random outburst. But now was her chance to weasel herself out of this conversation for good. If he didn't ask any questions, she could cut this talk short and return to her teammates. The longer this talk lasted, the more likely it would be for her to loose the little ground she had left. After all, he was a prodigy, she wasn't. So she ended it before the tables could turn completely.

"Now, unless you really want me to elaborate on the exciting story of two five-year olds playing with a teddy bear, I'd excuse myself for now and return to my comrades. I wish you a most pleasant day, Sasuke."

She clasped her hands in front of her, made a quick, but polite bow, turned on her heels and marched right back to her friends.

She almost thought herself safe from the Uchiha, but it seemed that Sasuke would not be shaken off so quickly.

"How strong is he, Inari?"

She halted in her steps one last time, contemplating the answer she should give. He was dead-set on finding out whatever he could about Gaara. But not from her; Inari had probably already said too much. So with a smile she turned her head one more time over her shoulder, fixing her amber eyes on his onyx ones. Unconsciously, she kneaded her hands in front of her, the itching sensation flaring up to a burning, but bearable pain.

"Don't pull the tiger's tail, Sasuke."

* * *

 _A week later_

* * *

Gaara had somewhat anticipated the beginning of the Chunin Exams. The week awaiting these exams had been excruciatingly uneventful and bothersome. All this talk about the highly important mission, with Baki discussing every single aspect with him and his team over and over again, grinding on his patience. It had started to annoy him, as if he was some oaf too dull-witted to understand such a simple plan. On the other hand, it had made him all excited for the Chunin Exams; The simple thought of facing off strong opponents got his blood boiling.

This, however had not been what he had been expecting. Up until now, there was next to no one who'd even come close to being a recognizable threat. Just a bunch of unique, equally weak 'shinobis' flocking together. Most of them were even too scared to look at him, and he was sure they weren't even aware of his true nature yet. Then, there were some others, foolish enough to shamelessly stare at him, silently challenging him. These were the faces Gaara would remember, not because of their strength, but because of the simple reason that no one who stared him dead in the eyes would get away with it. So far, there had been three to do just that: This Naruto, his black-haired, aloof teammate and an Oto-nin, shrouded in bandages and a rain cloack made of straw.

Likewise, there had been those who had thought themselves so discrete while peeking at him. It usually did not bother him, but one team from Amegakure had been obnoxiously persistent in their constant surveillance; Checking his position and action every other minute or so. It was slowly ticking him off. Such a pathetic display from Amegakure, he asked himself just why they had even bothered to send these incompetent genin here in the first place. On the other hand, Naruto had not grasped the role of a shinobi either, making loud and boastful taunts, having turned the whole room against him in a matter of seconds. He had to admit, he had considered right then if it would have been worth killing the boy, but had ultimately chosen to stay impassive. For now. That had also meant that Kankuro had not been allowed to take actions either, especially not after Gaara had already decided to make the Uzumaki his next target. It was the closest he could do to hurt _her_ without actually harming her or foiling that stupid plan.

Thinking of her, he wondered if what Temari had told them would turn out to be true. His sibling wasn't one to simply forward information without making sure of it's validity. But until now, he had not seen Ashoka Inari at all. Not in the week he had already spent here impassively watching the village's streets, nor now in this room, where all the participants for the Chunin Exams were supposed to gather. The supervisor for the first test had already appeared, confirming the exclusion of all those who had not turned up at this point. Right at this moment, they were standing in line to hand in their applications, and he still had not seen her. Had Temari been wrong after all? He should have known, relying on others at all, even for such insignificant and simple tasks like scouting for information, was stupid, foolish even. The girl not participating wouldn't necessarily ruin the whole plan, but it would, incidentally complicate matters. His personal matters, to be exact. But that wouldn't be too drastic for now. There were still other opportunities to enjoy himself during these exams. A lot of other opportunities.

Gaara noted the almost arrogant look on the Chunin's face who looked over his papers before handing him the tile. Almost as if telling him that a child such as him had no business being here. That idiot would find out about their power difference soon enough.

 _But not now._

The phrase had been repeated in his mind quite a lot since he had reached Konoha; Something about their mission finally being set into motion and the prospect of spilling blood got him all riled up. And the Exams were just about to start. However, the first test would be a written exam, so he had to prove his patience just a little longer.

Gaara inspected the number on his tile: It read '100'. A quick glance to Temari and Kankuro who had handed in their papers to different authority chunins told him that he wouldn't sit in his closer vicinity. This could pose a problem. It hadn't gone unnoticed by him that the requirements for entering the exams had specifically stated that genins could only join when in a team of three. That meant that some sort of teamwork would be involved. Depending on what that would include, the separation would be a hindrance. He was convinced that he could handle just about any situation he'd be faced with; Not so his siblings. Watching for a moment as Kankuro took a seat in the right back corner and Temari taking her assigned position in one of the first rows, he silently cast them warning glares. If he'd fail this test because of their incompetence, he'd kill them.

Scanning the room for the seat with his number, he was met with a surprise. Sure enough, sitting right there on place 99 was Ashoka Inari, looking as mirthful and ingenuous as ever. Right next to some red-haired Kusagakure-kunoichi who in turn was eyeing her seatmate very suspiciously, as if the blue-haired girl had said or done something completely ludicrous. From the memories he could recall from her, Inari probably had.

 _'"This. Is. So. Awesome! You are awesome! Everything is awesome!" she almost couldn't contain herself in her joy.'_

This was unexpected, to say the least. He slowly approached her, awaiting the reaction she would display once she'd lay eyes on him again. It had been six years since she'd seen him and most likely forgotten. What would she feel when she'd spot him? Would she still find him 'awesome'? Most likely not, as long as she hadn't become weary of life. Which he highly doubted. He felt nothing when he looked at her. Nothing but a spark of excitement. What a face she'd pull when he'd kill her friends. Make her feel pain after she had deliberately done the same to him back then. Back when he had still been weak and vulnerable.

Calmly he watched as her amber eyes settled on him, widening a little bit when she remembered. But against his initial expectation, her face did not warp in fear or hostility. Instead, she just looked...unsure. And she did not break eye contact, as most usually did. It quietly angered him, like it always did. But with her, it was something else; She looked weak, if anything, she probably _was_ weak. And still she had managed to cause him pain. He remembered it as clear as the day. It infuriated him to no end that she had gotten away with it, that she would get away with it for now, when he could easily crush her right there. But he couldn't lose his calm here, there were still multiple opportunities to bring her suffering, there was no point in taking action now.

She started kneading her palms together, slightly fidgeting with her fingers clad in black gloves. Her eyes broke away from his drifting through the room, searching for any kind of support, but not finding any. She was getting nervous. She should. An outsider wouldn't have noticed, but Gaara raveled in the feeling of making her twitch by just sitting down next to her. However, she wouldn't distract him at this point, she wasn't his focus at the moment. Since he wasn't allowed to kill her anyway just yet, this was the closest he'd get to harming her. That would be as far as it would get, thus he did not concern himself with her any further. Not to mention that right now, there were more important things that should occupy his mind; The test, for example.

There were still some genins in line to hand in their papers, so that meant it would take some time until the written exam would commence. It gave him time to contemplate the challenges that he could be faced with during the next hours. But why _written-_

"Uh, hello Gaara. Long time no see."

Her voice had lost a lot of it's childish tune, but had preserved it's high and carefree tone. She sounded as uncertain as she had appeared a couple of seconds ago, but not as fearful as she should have been. He did not turn his head, deciding to only watch her from the corner of his eyes. Right now, she wasn't worth anymore of his attention; He wanted to focus on himself, on this test, so he could pass it without any problems.

"I was surprised to hear that you were here, in Konoha." she continued, not thrown off by his silence.

He wouldn't give her the attention she demanded. She was nothing, only his prey. He decided when he would strike, not her. She wasn't strong enough to have a say in this matter.

He could observe her eyes slightly narrowing, if out of suspicion or displeasure, he wasn't sure. But the sense of insecurity did not falter. Was she blind? Or deaf? Maybe daft, for even the red-haired Kusagakure-nin two seats away from him was severely unnerved by his presence alone. The frightened looks and the ever so slightly shift away from him told him everything he needed to know. But not Inari. At least not to the extent he would have expected. It angered him; Was she undermining him? Mocking his presence? Who was she to belittle his existence like that?!

"Is it your fir

-"

He wouldn't indulge her any further.

"Shut up."

His voice was as cold as ice, doing quite a good job at silencing her. It did quite a good job at masking his growing fury at her. He wasn't allowed to kill her yet.

And still, she did not react as he expected; Her first expression of mild shock was quickly washed away by puffed cheeks and an accusing glare. He could still see through that facade, as she still was rubbing her hands nervously together in her lap. However, that did not change the overshadowing mood she displayed. She was straining his patience at record time.

"Your people's skills are terrible. Terrible, I tell you!" she blurted out, oblivious to the grave she was slowly digging for herself. "And when did you get that scar on your forehead? Or is it a tattoo? "

Did she think he was joking, or not being serious? It took a lot of his restraint to not kill her on the spot. Or maim her, for starters. But he was a shinobi, the ultimate weapon of Sunagakure. He was stronger than everyone else, better than any other shinobi. She was insignificant to him, nothing she'd say or do would have any influence over him.

"I'll repeat myself for a simpleton like you. I am not joking, so shut up, or I will kill you." he pressured one more time.

Usually, people understood. Not her. She wasn't impressed. In fact, she even leaned over to him a little bit. He could feel the sand in his gourd rustling. If she came just a tad bit closer, his sand would not hesitate to grind away her face.

"I didn't joke either. You _are_ terrible with other people. Or is it just me?" she whisper-yelled back at him.

"I don't care about your opinion, or about other people." he answered, coming to the conclusion that unless he'd hurt her physically, she would not grasp the severity of this situation.

"I don't care that much about death threats either." she snapped back, though her tone wasn't as much hostile as it simply was educating "Noble people get them all the time."

He eyed her with a calculating stare, it did not take him long to deduct that she was lying. Why she chose to do so, he couldn't fathom. Or why she was so persistent. She must have been aware that during any other circumstances, he would have crushed her in a blink of an eye. So why persist?

"You will see the error in your judgment soon enough."

He saw her taking in a deep breath, undoubtedly to fire something back at him, but luckily for her, it was at this moment that the examiner, Morino Ibiki called their attention again.

"Eyes front, maggots! Listen carefully, because I won't repeat myself. Before we begin, there are a few rules you need to be aware of. I'll write them down on the blackboard, but I won't answer any questions. So unless you want to fail the test before it's even begun, I suggest you keep it for yourself."

Finally, this test would begin. The sooner this would be over, the better. If only to get away from her.

"Psht, Gaara."

He'd ignore her, that was the safest route. Otherwise, he'd kill her right there, no matter what the original plan demanded him to do.

"Good luck!"

He could see her smiling at him again at the edge of his vision, hesitantly, but genuine. And it was directed only at him.

 _'But, you are my friend, right?'_

A sudden, yet all too familiar pain flared up again in his chest. And she was the culprit, once again. He would enjoy ripping her apart on every level imaginable.

* * *

 _Thank you all for reading!_


	4. Unfathomable

**Well, hello there. Long time no see!**

 **After, like, 3,000 years, one or one-hundred bottles of coca cola zero and 1,000 entries on .com later, I've finally spewed out a new chapter.**

 **We are still deep in the Chunin Exams, and Gaara is still as balanced as a drunk cow riding a unicycle on a balancing rope.**

 **On the other hand, Inari still is an (hopefully) adorable idiot trying not to fail as a shinobi...or a human being as a whole. At least she's trying.**

 **So, see both of them approach this first challenge in their own ways in this chapter!**

 **I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, I'd sure like to hear your opinions and thoughts on it!**

 **So, if you feel the urge to tell me anything about the story so far, please let me know in the review section or over PM, whatever floats your boat!**

* * *

 ** _Unfathomable_**

 _Incapable of being fully explored or understood_

* * *

"The test will last one hour."

The scarred examiner peered at the clock hanging over the door frame, waiting for the clock-hands to show exactly right time. Only the rhythmic ticking of the clock cut through the tense and heavy silence filling the entire room. Everyone was waiting for the signal to get started as quick as possible, some more anxiously than others, as Inari quickly noted. She herself wasn't as anxious as some others appeared to be, but saying that she kept her cool would have been a bit of an overstatement; There was always a possibility of failing. But she was confident, if not in herself, then at least in her team. They would make it, no matter what. With that certainty, she allowed her gaze to wander one more time before the signal would be given.

A lot of the contestants looked tense; some of the faces she could peek at had determined looks on them, but there were also not a few of them looking doubtful, nervous. Surprisingly, Inari noted that she had apparently been seated next to the only person in the entire room who did not looked phased at all; Gaara just stared ahead with an air of cold and calculating confidence. It captivated her, although she tried her best not to openly stare at him; That would have been weird. Even weirder than their verbal exchange two minutes prior. That conversation still confused her immensely, distracting her rather effectively, to her own silent annoyance. Alas, she could not help but flinch slightly when Morino Ibiki finally barked "Begin", cutting through the room like the slash of a sword.

Her eyes flew to the sheet laying innocently right in front of her. She would pass this test, no matter what, not forgiving herself if she'd be the reason for disqualifying her team in the very first phase. Being the smartest one wasn't usually the title she was honored with, but that didn't mean that she was an idiot either. That was at least what she had thought from herself until she had actually read the questions written down in front of her.

In her defense, she knew _some_ of these words, but most certainly not in such a constellation. Not only did she not know the answers to these questions, she did not even know what these problems wanted her to solve, and the small pictures were not helping. Actually, the small illustrations and graphs were making things worse. And a quick scan over the remaining questions told her that those were the easy ones. Cold panic took hold of her as quick as a kunai flying right at her face; she'd probably never forgive herself if her failure would cost them the opportunity to go on in this exam. She could already feel Uzume's freezing blue gaze of disappointment and silent judgment, and Sarutahiko's unintelligibly, but undoubtedly viscous mumbling that would screw up their entire group dynamic for eternity. Unless of course, they were failing just as awfully as she was, which was thinkable for Sarutahiko, but never for Uzume. Maybe Uzume would take her revenge on both of them.

Yet, she couldn't imagine being the only having no clue what these letters wanted from her at all. Wasn't there anyone else having just as many difficulties as her?

A quick scan through the room showed her a lot of desperation, with a majority of the participants looking just as lost as she was. From silent resignation to barely audible sounds of consternation. That should have soothed her worries, seeing that she wasn't the only one failing in this room, yet in reality, it only added to her slowly building anxiety. All other candidates failing – in this case – would not help her one bit. Not to mention that she did not possess a competitive spirit big enough to fuel her motivation. Seeing her friends also looking as clueless as ever made her feel disillusioned. She could even coincidentally spot Sasuke, who she had officially proclaimed a moody genius, and saw that he looked lost too. Uzume, on the other hand, whose reputation of a genius had once been lost in the shadow of wonder child Neji, looked rather moody. Absolute disbelief wasn't a reaction neither of these people were allowed to display in this situation. If they were having problems, then what was she supposed to do?

And still, not everyone appeared to be lost. A quick glance to her right showed a totally calm and collected Gaara staring his sheet of paper silently to death. At first, it made the impression of him just thinking very hard for the answers, as if he had a chance of solving each problem. But he had not written anything down yet, and his gaze did not focus on one question, but scanned over the entire sheet of paper. He was just as clueless as she was, he just wasn't quietly flipping out...yet. So he was having problems too. Somehow, Inari liked that thought; During all that time she had been seated next to him – which, admittedly, wasn't that long, but still enough – he had been cold, and surrounded by an air of deadly superiority. Seeing him confused and frustrated in such a way made her feel sympathetic towards him. Actually, confused was the main state Gaara was remembered by her, just with different causation.

Almost lost in her own thoughts again, she quickly shook her head and looked away; This wasn't the right time to get distracted by him and her own thoughts. She needed to come up with a plan. What did her sensei say again? _Assessing the situation is already half a plan._ Okay, no, those hadn't been the exact words, but something along those lines.

So, what was the situation? She had a test to pass and she did not know shit. So if she did not know shit, maybe someone else in this room did. But that would mean cheating. Cheating would get her disqualified...and her team right with her.

 _'Cheating_ five _times will get you disqualified. Which means cheating four times keeps you safe and sound, no matter what.'_

Well, that was correct, and that realization was surprisingly reliving. Suddenly, the rules that had seemed so evil and against her appeared to be much less threatening than at first anticipated. These were better conditions than a normal test she had not been prepared for, if she was honest.

But that still put her before her next problem; Cheating. She doubted that the old-fashioned way of peeking at her neighbor's sheet would work with those watchers at each end of a row. Sadly, that was pretty much the only way she was able to cheat without doing any preparations beforehand. Which, obviously, she hadn't. Nobody here had. And those who had probably were some weird nerds who were of a mythical kind that liked such exams anyway. Seriously, what could ev...

She was going off-track again, losing her focus. What was her initial problem again?

Oh yes, she was dumb as shit and couldn't figure the answers out on her own. Such a jolly topic.

Someone would have to give her the answers; put someone under a genjutsu and force them to do so. But she wasn't good at creating those, the only one on their team who created decent genjutsus was Uzume. It was now that Inari noticed just how much Uzume tended to almost carry their team on her shoulders all alone. Maybe she should write Uzume's name on the test sheet and see if that would help her.

Her teammate probably had it all figured out by now, she always had been a quick thinker. Not like her and Sarutahiko, who were more brawn than brain, as she sometimes grouchily had to admit to herself.

If only she could at least _ask_ her, but shouting through the entirely silent room would be obvious.

Unless no one who wasn't meant to be addressed knew who was shouting at whom. Wait a minute; She was onto something.

Oh, she wouldn't use her voice, but there was more than one way to communicate with each other. Not as smooth, but she wasn't here to be elegant.

Inari checked the time. Thirty minutes left before the tenth question would be revealed. And if she wanted to make her plan work, she needed some preparation time. And then some more in order to collect answers and writing them down on her blank testing sheet. All based on the hope that Uzume had some answers in the first place. Yes, this plan wasn't exactly foolproof, but luckily, she wasn't a fool to begin with. From her perspective, at least.

* * *

Admittedly, this had been more difficult than Gaara had imagined at first. Of course, by now he had figured out what was truly tested here, but the questions themselves had caught him off-guard nonetheless. He had always thought himself more intelligent than the average person by far. The time spent in cold isolation over the years had given him lots of opportunities to indulge himself in books concerning all sorts of topics he could imagine. In comparison to other people, the pages had been worth his time. The raccoon dog had never been too happy about it; He had called it boring, monotone, stupid. Reading did not spill blood on sand, after all. But it had been the knowledge of these books that had given Gaara an even better understanding of this cruel world outside. It had helped him countless times, even though the raccoon dog insisted he would not have needed that with his power at disposal. Ironically though, it did not really like Gaara using it's own power either. The beast did not make a lot of sense most of the time.

Just like this test. Or at least the rules of this test. They left so many openings that it was almost insulting. The emphasis on not letting yourself get caught cheating while at the same time softening the penalty for doing so was about as obvious as it got. The fact that one got tens points to begin with and only could lose points by not answering questions _and_ cheating. These questions were the last piece of the puzzle, and it fit perfectly. Either you cheated without getting caught or you failed. Not anything that would pose any difficulty. Still, that left him with only one issue: His siblings.

While he trusted his abilities blindly, he could not say the same about his siblings. And it frustrated him to no end that his success depended on other people, especially ones less competent than him. If he failed because one of them, he would certainly kill them. His eyes roamed over the room, stopping only when he found his brother's frowning profile staring at his test. Gaara watched – internally impatient – as Kankuro seemed to notice that something looming was observing him. Finally, a nervous glance around him caused his brother to meet his gaze and hold it.

Gaara tried deciphering if his brother at least understood what they were required to do. If one of his siblings understood the situation, they would help each other out. That's how weak people survived. But they would not include him in whatever plan they'd come up with. He did not need their help.

Only when Kankuro nodded ever so lightly before focusing back on his testing sheet was Gaara sure that even if he had not entirely understood the task hidden beneath these flawed rules, he still would pass this test. Good. He wouldn't accept any other outcome.

At ease now that he was sure that he would pass this test despite his siblings, he took in the scene before him. He spotted five pathetic attempts to cheat right away. By the sounds of pencils writing something down from the row the supervisors, they did too. Not much of a competition. Once every few minutes or so, a team would be disqualified. Some people – on the other hand – had part of their testing sheets already filled out, and Gaara could not figure out how they had managed to gather information. Uzumaki Naruto, to his disappointment, seemed to have a small panic attack. Not that he had expected much from him, he had made the impression of an idiot right away. Still, he would have been very much interested in his brawn. Something he wouldn't get the chance of seeing.

That reminded him of the girl sitting right next to him. He did not turn his head. He did not want to get two points off because some idiot sitting at the end of the row thought he'd make such a daft attempt at cheating. Anything else but a perfect score would be an insult. But he watched her from the corner of his eyes. She was staring holes into the untouched paper in front of her. Which either meant she was thinking very hard or in shock; The facial expression could have fitted both. But either way, she looked lost, incompetent. He had expected nothing less. General weakness aside, seeing her here it was easy to forget that she was probably just another noble playing shinobi. He still remembered that ridiculous illusion of hers. She did not belong here, even less than all the other incompetent contestants here. At the end of these exams she would disappear from the face of the earth either way, but maybe she'd be kicked out sooner than anticipated. Fitting for her, to disappear prematurely, never to be seen again. He still wished to be the one to make her disappear.

It almost amazed him how vehemently she managed to ignore his intense side-glare. People usually noticed these, especially when it lingered longer than a few seconds on them. But she was as oblivious as always; A pathetic excuse of a shinobi's awareness. Oddly enough, it was him who started to notice something instead: Like a subtle, almost non-existent crackling in the air that slowly surrounded her. Then, it was like a smooth, cold feeling laying itself easily on his skin. Suddenly, it felt scratchy, ragged stone rubbing against the arm closest to Inari. Before he could even name that sensation though, it morphed into a sharp sensation, like a million thin strings pressing into skin, almost drawing blood. Bizarrely, it then felt as if his arm was changing, or as if it wasn't his own anymore, estranged from his own body. Yet the switch had been flipped again just as quickly, since his arm now felt hot, like sitting at a warm camp fire.

It kept flipping between so many different sensations that it started hurting his head if Gaara focused too much on trying to differentiate them. But if he did not even look out for that anomaly, he barely even noticed anything at all, and then also only in the body parts closest to Inari. He doubted that any of the supervisors would notice anything at all. Whatever sort of jutsu it was, it was annoying as hell. Trying to figure it out right now would be irritating, to put it mildly. And as annoying this sensation was – now that he was aware of it – Gaara did not put it high on his current priority list. He still had a test to write before he could think about some childish trick.

And he knew exactly how he would gather the required information. The small amount of sand around him swirled lazily around his form, as if heeding his command by instinct. It was almost disappointing to use his chakra in such a negligible way, but he was here to finish a mission. He put his right hand over his left eye while gathering his chakra in the palm of his left palm. Molding his chakra like this was almost an automated process by now, considering the countless times he had used this technique before. The sand, following his chakra as if caught in a current swirled around his arm, before gathering into a small ball in his left hand. Quickly, the ball took a more precise form and color, taking the shape of an eyeball. It was now that a tingly sensation blossomed behind the left side of his skull, where his real left eyeball was positioned. On a spur of a moment, the dark spot in his vision was filled with images of himself looking at his palm, while his open right eye was looking at the same image, but from the perspective it was supposed to be seen from. It always took him a moment to get accustomed with this sudden change of vision, but by now the mild irritation was reduced to a fleeting moment.

 _'The third eye is opened.'_

He wasted no time crushing the perfect imitation of an eyeball into sand again, letting the left side of his vision abruptly get dark again. Now, he only had to discreetly direct the sand to someone who was eagerly writing down some answers and –

It didn't feel so much like a punch in the face, but more like a heavy blanket thrown over his head, no, the entire room. Chakra, in anomalously high density filled the room, not high enough to feel thwarted or pressured, but noticeable enough to overlay any other low-energy jutsus. It almost dissolved his control over the third eye, had he not reacted quickly enough and used more chakra to keep the connection upright. But it wasn't the intensity or density that caused major interference; It was the nature of this sudden expansion of chakra, or rather, it's inconsistency. It was ever changing, as erratic and fickle as one could possibly imagine. At one moment, it was almost crackling with electricity in the entire room, in the next room, it was like a vacuum in one corner of the room while simultaneously turning almost frosty in another corner. It was completely random and chaotic, or at least it was for anyone who was not familiar with this...occurrence.

Finding the source of this anomaly was almost impossible to figure out by observing the fluctuation of the chakra; It was too random and disorganized to find a consistent center of energy. The whole room was caught in a wave of confusion, trying to discreetly figure out what was even happening and who was responsible for such a huge and bold interference. Gaara, who still had a hold of his third eye, could see – though with some difficulty due to this unpredictable shift of chakra – the confusion spreading, even under the supervisors; Their eyes roaming the rows like hawks searching for their prey. And then slowly turning into almost panicked chickens trying to find that one peck of seed in the dirt. But they weren't having any success.

Gaara almost knew immediately who the source was:

It was as if the disordered feeling that had brushed over his left arm only minutes ago had suddenly exploded over the entire room. It almost gave him a light sensation of nausea.

He looked critically at Inari. Admittedly, he had not expected her to do such a thing. Yet, at the same time, he could have expected her to do use such a loud and obnoxious jutsu in a test where discretion and fraudulence was a key factor. But she seemed unfazed, letting her gaze wander through the room concentrated, but not stiffly, even though her body had tensed up. But not suspicious enough that one could trace this jutsu back to her.

Was she trying to cover something up? Or was she just trying to sabotage everyone else? Both was equally possible in Gaara's mind. Doing his own jutsus under these conditions took way more concentration and chakra than he considered appropriate, not to mention that the execution was still sloppy. His view with the third eye shifted from exceedingly detailed to drowsily blurred to shaky. On the other hand, he could use a larger amount of chakra without getting detected. Sloppier attempts from other genin would be covered by this random camouflage of chakra, if they only concentrated enough. The smart ones certainly would make their moves now.

"Hey, what kind of technique is that?! As if the questions weren't difficult enough, now this?! You didn't tell us anything about this, at all!"

Apparently, the not so smart ones were making their moves as well. A genin from Konohagakure had stood up, challenging Ibiki head on, a look of outrage adorning his features. Gaara was watching him with his right eye, while his artificial one had resumed it's search for the answers for his test.

"Sit down kid, or do you want to get disqualified?"

Ibiki stared daggers at the genin, daring him to continue with his childish outbreak. Gaara noted silently that he had not mentioned that this 'disturbance' was not part of the test. He had also yet to call Inari out on her jutsu. And the supervisors looking over their row had yet to write something down. They did not have a clue either who was causing this small ruckus. And they wouldn't admit it.

"No, this just isn't fair! Tell us right now-"

"You are disqualified, you and your team can leave the room now and come back when you've learned not to cry like a little brat anymore."

Ibiki had not even raised his voice considerably, but if looks could kill, that genin would have already died way back in his infancy.

What a pathetic idiot that genin was.

"Number 23, you fail! 37 and 04, you can thank your idiot comrade and tell him to shut his mouth next time someone tells him to." one of the supervisors reconfirmed.

That settled some of the commotion. The only other oddity Gaara witnessed was the collapse of the red-haired girl from Kusagakure next to Inari, seemingly overwhelmed by the randomness, ever changing intensity and confusing fluctuation of chakra. Strangely enough she was not disqualified, nor did she quit. She just laid there, head on the desk,her entire test sheet filled out, miserably waiting for the final question. Gaara did not really understand why such weakness was allowed to proceed, but it wasn't really his problem either. Should she ever get in his way, he'd just kill this nuisance.

In the meantime, he had resumed his focus on answering the questions himself. It took some more time than he had initially presumed, but soon enough, the blank spaces on his sheet were filled with the right answers. It was almost ten minutes before the tenth question would be revealed when Kankuro also made his move. His puppet, disguised as one of the supervisors 'escorted' him to the toilet. Gaara was honestly surprised that this worked in the first place, not expecting that the contestants were even allowed to go to the toilet, let alone leave the room. He noticed right away that despite Kankuro's skills with making his puppets move naturally, he had difficulties doing so under these 'conditions'. Karasu, though still convincing, walked a little bit too clumsy and rigid for a chunin chosen specifically for his exceptional skills.

There wasn't anything else Gaara could do right now but wait for the final question. It gave him enough free time to observe Inari again, the most interesting thing on his hands right now. To his surprise, she hadn't written anything down yet. Her sheet of paper was still as white as it had been when she had received it almost 45 minutes ago. And it didn't look like she would be writing something down anytime soon. Their eyes met for a brief second. Cold and calculating turquoise eyes clashed with roguish and playful golden ones. He knew that she knew that he was aware of the fact that she was the source of the most recent ruckus, and she did not seem too fazed.

Her facial expression could almost be described as teasingly cheeky, even though she had done nothing but mess with the whole process. Except of a few single individuals, she had probably anonymously helped everyone else in this room but herself. Gaara was once again reminded that she was an idiot, a wasteful idiot. An even bigger one than he had first deduced. He really hoped that he could be the one to wipe that cheeky expression off of her face. His whole body tingled at the thought of that, and this time it wasn't because the chakra around him was changing it's nature approximately ten times a second.

And then, suddenly, her face went blank. He could watch in mild confusion as her pupils slowly dilated, her smile faded and her position slacked. Her eyes left his, fixing the test in front of her once more. Somehow, her looking away like that made him even angrier than her slightly smiling at him in a disgustingly carefree way. Was she ignoring him now? How dare she?

He was so caught up in that odd change of behavior, he almost did not notice how the storm of chakra slowly calmed once more. It was a slow process, not as abrupt as it had appeared, but sure enough, the atmosphere and energy in the room was going back to normal again. He wasn't the only one noticing the change, or the lack thereof. Ibiki was letting his gaze roam over the room rapidly, looking for any hints under the remaining contestants. But as far as Gaara could tell, he still could not find the culprit.

The noise of something being written down could be heard right next to him. He could observe how Inari had finally started answering the questions, five minutes before the final question would be revealed. But something was off; there was no tension in her body, she seemed almost slack while writing, and Gaara noted suspiciously that her eyes were half closed. She didn't even know what she was writing down, but he could tell that they were the same answers as his. Was this part of her jutsu? Or an external influence, like a genjutsu? Had she been drugged, or was this another jutsu entirely? He didn't know, and if there had been anything else to do, he probably wouldn't care either. But in this situation, trapped on this bench, she was the most interesting thing right now to observe, simply because it was the most bizarre thing in close proximity.

The second the minute hand of the clock had reached the three o'clock mark, Ibiki spoke up again, his loud voice booming through the whole room:

"Ok, it's time. We will now start the 10th question."

Kankuro wasn't back yet. That was problematic. If they failed because Kankuro had spent too much time on the bathroom, he'd squish him as slowly as possible. At the corner of his awareness, he noted how Inari apparently snapped out of her trance at the loud voice sounding through the room. Her testing sheet was filled out completely now.

The rows had thinned out a bit, Gaara noted, but he would say that more than two thirds still remained. That seemed a lot. Either this test had not been as effective as it should have been, or the following test would be a lot harsher.

"Now, before we get to it, I'd like to go over the added rules for this question."

A unison wave of surprise washed through the rows of contestants. Gaara was unfazed, he had other concerns. If Kankuro did not show up anytime soon, they'd be disqualified. The desire to make his 'brother's' life as miserable as possible rapidly rose.

Luckily for Kankuro, he had just enough sense for timing to come in just at that moment. Good for him. It made Gaara feel at ease again. If Kankuro now managed to relay the information to Temari, than that would be the end for his forced teamwork with these two clowns. Then he could depend on himself and only himself again.

"Heh, nice timing. I hope you enjoyed your time playing with your dolls on the toilet."

And that meant a two-point reduction for Kankuro. It didn't mean though that he was disqualified, so Gaara did not care that much. He only resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he watched Kankuro's expression of disbelief. Of course, his brother tried to remain cool, but that was terribly executed. What a walking disgrace.

"Just sit down and be lucky that you didn't come in _while_ I was explaining the rules. God knows I hate brats who think they can interrupt me."

 _'Just get on with it.'_

Gaara started to get really impatient by now. He watched in mild contempt as his sibling walked back to his place, as if he really put effort into walking as slow as possible.

"I'll now explain. These are the rules of desperation."

So much drama Gaara did not care about. He did not sit here to listen to a melodramatic wannabe-instructor. The pause Ibiki made to let his words sink in was almost torture to Gaara, if only he had known how much of his precious time would be wasted. He didn't even bother to glare or snarl or anything, he would just impatiently wait and maybe even pretend to care.

"First, for this 10th question you must decide whether you will take it or not."

"Choose?! What happens if we choose not to take it." Temari interrupted angrily.

Gaara swore that he hated Temari even more right now than he already hated Kankuro. How was it possible for the more sensible of his siblings to ask such irrelevant questions?

"If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero. You will fail the exam along with your teammates."

"Well, then of course we will decide to take the question!"

"What kind of proposition is that even?"

 _'Just shut up, you all. I want it to end.'_

Obviously there would be a catch, and they would get to it the minute these idiots would be quiet again and listen to the instructor.

"Now, the second rule: Those who choose to take the question, but answer it wrong will loose their right to take the chunin exams ever again."

There was the catch, and not a very impressive one, as Gaara deemed. He was confident enough to be convinced that he would be capable of answering the question right. He was so confident, he even believed that Kankuro would pass this question.

Obviously though, others weren't as confident in their intellect.

"What kind of stupid rule is that?!"

"There are people who have taken the exams before."

 _'What a bunch of idiots. Do they even listen properly when someone explains something to them?'_

"You guys were just unlucky that they made me responsible for making the rules this year. But don't worry, I'll give you another chance right now."

That got almost everyone on the edge of their seats. It was an easy way to spot those who could not assess their own capabilities. Gaara, secretly hoping that this should just end by now, watched silently as a cruel and crooked smile spread over Ibiki's scarred lips. Whatever was to come, it would have a sour taste to it.

"If you are not sure if you can answer the question correctly, you will get a chance to somewhat redeem yourself. Name another contestant who managed to cheat without getting caught and tell me how they did it and I might be convinced to overthink my rule concerning these persons. The contestants who you name – along with their teammates – will be excluded from the following stages of the Chunin Exam."

For everyone else who isn't too sure of themselves, you can simply drop out and try next year."

Involuntarily, his gaze wandered to his seat neighbor. Not that he needed to make use of that vague extra rule, but watching Inari fail did have a special appeal to it. Once again their eyes met, and he watched in silent joy as realization settled in her facial features. Now that was a look of shock and silent pleading. He was more than familiar with it, and he loved seeing it on his victims. Especially when said victims would soon realize that the dreaded outcome was inevitable, no matter what they did. Because they were weak and pathetic, and he did not know mercy.

"So, before you decide if you take the question, raise your hand if you want to report a cheater."


End file.
